Mask
by Riza Winters
Summary: Unspeakable tragedy befalls Grimmjow when he has to pay the price for his father's sins and he is taken in by the Kurosakis. But in the wake of such horrors, two boys take a stand against the evil that has ruled Karakura for years. AU set in real world.
1. Chapter 1

"Yo Grimm! Grimmjow, wait up!"

Ichigo ran around the street corner and caught up to the young man ahead of him who was walking along at a brisk pace. "Grimmjow." Ichigo grabbed his shoulder and the other finally stopped.

"Oh, hey Ichigo." He said, barely concealing the fact he was avoiding him and not making eye contact.

"Hey, man, you weren't a school. Everything okay?"

Grimmjow sighed, still looking anywhere but at Ichigo. "How many years have you been asking me that question?"

"Lost count."

"Fine, everything is fine, Ichigo. Old man just wasn't feeling too good today so I stuck around home."

"Oh."

"Everything is fine, Ichigo." Grimmjow repeated one final time before hiking his book bag up on his shoulder. "Going home?"

"Yeah." The two walked on in silence towards their neighbouring houses. Ichigo had known Grimmjow almost his whole life: the blue haired teen had been practically raised in the Kurosaki household he spent so much time there. But in the last few years, rather than sending him out of the house when he decided to get drunk or have a poker party, Grimmjow's father had been keeping him close to deal with the aftermath. Ichigo was used to Grimmjow avoiding the topic, but there was something wrong today- worse than usual.

Grimmjow stopped at the foot of his driveway and sighed when he saw an extra car parked in front of the house.

"You're dad having the guys over again tonight?" Ichigo asked, knowing Grimmjow hated when the poker gang came over and usually showed up late at school with no homework done because of it.

"Looks like it. Did I miss anything important today?"

"Math review, test tomorrow."

"Awesome." He sighed sarcastically. "See ya"

"Wait, Grimmjow, you want to come over for dinner?"

"No, I should stick around the old man." Grimmjow moved toward the door, Ichigo remained close behind him.

"Then come over later, we can study."

"I would but-"

"You could even stay over. The girls are complaining that they haven't seen you in a whole week."

Grimmjow just sighed. Ichigo stared at the back of his head, feeling an unexplained tension building. Several long seconds went by before Grimmjow let his shoulders slouch in some sort of defeat and slowly turned to face his friend. All the pieces came together for Ichigo in one, stomach-churning instant.

"Grimmjow..." Poorly concealed by his sunglasses, a mix of purples and yellows with veins of red running through covered one side of his cheek. Grimmjow gripped the strap of his book bag tightly but said nothing when Ichigo reached up to pull his glasses away. Ichigo winced, seeing his bloodshot eye and the dark red lid. Grimmjow avoided Ichigo's eyes, staring somewhere across the street instead.

"It ain't what you think." He muttered.

"Like Hell!'

"Dad was pretty drunk, I tried to get him up to bed. He fell on the stairs and his elbow caught me, that's all."

"Right."

"ICHIGO!" Now it was Grimmjow's turn to shout. He grabbed the other's shoulders and glared at him even past the swelling. "I know what you and your Dad think. I know Isshin has been watching me like a hawk all these years just waiting for this day. Well, if my dad was gonna beat me, do you really think he would wait until I was old enough to defend myself? He may be a drunk and a gambler, but that doesn't mean he's abusive too! We ain't all perfect like you guys but we're still family and he loves me."

Grimmjow even seemed surprised at his outburst and let go of Ichigo. He took a step back, closer to the door.

"Grimmjow, wait. I'm sorry, I really am. I believe you. But you have to understand-"

"I do, Ichigo. Night." Grimmjow said quickly, increasing the distance between them, shutting himself off.

"Grimmjow don't walk away like this."

Grimmjow said nothing as he stepped inside the house. Ichigo ran up the step but the door was already shut. "GRIMMJOW!"

Grimmjow set his book bag on the floor, and stood staring at it as he listened to Ichigo's shouts. He was worked up, breathing hard, he didn't want to have to defend his father, not to Ichigo.

"You know I'm family too!"

The desperate words reached him through the rattle of the storm door and Grimmjow's head snapped up, staring through the solid wood surface as if he could see those sincere brown eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, to say yes, he _did _know that, but a strangled noise from the kitchen made him stop. He stepped out of the entry and looked around the corner.

Grimmjow saw black before an explosion of light behind his eyelid and then he felt the wall slam into him. A forearm pinned him face first against it, and he felt cool metal press into neck- the deliberate click of the safety let him know for certain it was a gun. It shoved tight against his skin in warning before lifting and pointing at the door, behind which Ichigo still stood calling out to him. Grimmjow felt himself shaking, felt cold and hot and like he might be sick all at once, but he knew what the gunmen was trying to say. He swallowed, his throat suddenly dry, but called out.

"I know Ichigo. Just go home, we'll talk later." His voice was shaking. Ichigo could hear it.

"Please let me in."

"I don't want to talk about this right now." Grimmjow nearly pleaded when the finger tightened over the trigger. "I'll come over after dinner, okay? You can help me study."

There was audible relief in Ichigo's voice. "Okay, that's great. I'll see you then."

"See ya."

They listened to his footsteps and then the barrel was back against his neck.

"Very good," a low voice hissed in his ear, "you just saved your friend's life. Now let's see if you can do the same for your father."

Grimmjow had little choice but to move where the barrel of the gun pushed him. The man held onto his shoulder and shoved him into the living room.

Grimmjow was met with a most horrific scene. It took him several moments to process what he was seeing, and when he did finally register that the bloodied mess tied to a kitchen chair was his father, he felt his knees give out and his stomach lurch. He gagged on all fours, unable to handle the reality of this situation. The gun was now gone from the back of his neck, he took note of a second man above what was left of his father. The air turned thin, his chest constricted painfully, but shock and revulsion were rapidly being replaced by unbelievable rage.

The second man saw it first, because for one brief moment their eyes met- cobalt struck black, conveying that pure loss of rational thought, of anything beyond the primal urge to defend your own and destroy all threats. Every muscle in his body bunched before he lurched off that floor onto the man above him.

He didn't care about the gun. He didn't care what they wanted, he just wanted them dead. But it was a reckless move. He landed a hit or two before the butt of the gun caught him in the temple. They didn't stop when he collapsed to the floor, blinking back the darkness. He could only curl in on himself to protect his face and stomach from their kicks, their punches, but it did little good. He could hear his father screaming behind a gag. He cried out when something snapped in his wrist and the pair finally stopped. But there was no illusions of mercy. He couldn't move much, when they stepped away, and was left to stare at his father while the men tied his arms and pushed a gag into his mouth.

He had left two hours ago, just to walk around and clear his head and grab a book from the library. In that time, the men had transformed his father into a barely recognizable heap of blood and bruises; teeth strewn on the floors, and in another flood of horror, he realized there were fingers scattered next to the chair as well. His face was misshapen: lips torn up by the pliers that must have been used to yank teeth. Grimmjow met his eyes. They stung him, conveying such pain and fear, such _guilt._ This wasn't his father. This couldn't be real. Grimmjow shut his eyes and everything was spinning.

"Don't go spacing out on us kid." The men had finished securing him and hauled him up onto a chair, facing his father. The second man yanked the gag down again and looked Grimmjow square on. Though his vision blurred, the teen stared into his black eyes, every line of his face, every hair, every freckle searing into his brain. The face of the man that had tortured his father would never be forgotten.

"Your dad here owes us _alot_ of money. Our boss won it fair and square and his payment was up two days ago. He swears he doesn't have it, even after our persuasion. Now, if you know where he's hiding it, then please, speak up."

Grimmjow stared at his father, then turned back to the people. "How much?" His speech was slurred, he felt his face swelling from the beating, but somehow he could manage his own pain while seeing his father.

"Sixty thousand."

Grimmjow's eyes went wide. "Dad...we don't...we don't have that kind of cash..."

"Too bad for you, cause our boss said if that was the case, then we should make an example."

"Wait!" Grimmjow cried, but the man was already pulling a stained knife from his belt. "Please, I'll get it, I'll find it somewhere."

"Sorry son, that ain't how it works, not your debt to pay. Well, actually..." the knife came to rest against Grimmjow's face, "maybe you will be paying it for your father after all." The gag was put back in his mouth just before he started to scream.

* * *

Ichigo pushed his food across his plate idly. Karin and Yuzu were in their bedrooms and Ichigo had just gotten around to telling his dad about earlier.

"Please don't freak out when he comes over. He got really upset."

"Do you believe him?" Isshin asked seriously.

"What?"

"Do you believe him about his dad? Do you believe it was an accident?"

Ichigo didn't answer right away. He looked down at his plate. "I know you always thought it would happen. I know that when we were kids it killed you to let him go back to that house, that you would have kept him if you could. But in all these years Mr. Jaggerjaques never has..."

"Doesn't mean he can't start." But Isshin was quiet, his words plain, not accusing. "You're right, Ichigo, every time Grimmjow stayed over, I wanted to lock the doors and call social services. But after a while, I figured out his father was just misguided. He has an addiction, maybe a few, but he always knew enough to get Grimmjow here, where it was safe, and Grimmjow always had us. And maybe I know what it's like, to lose a wife in such violence, to be a father on your own and to be afraid to fail."

"Please dad, don't compare yourself to him."

"But it's pretty easy to do, don't you think?"

Their situations were similar. But Grimmjow had never really known his mother. Ichigo at least had a few memories of his, even if one of those memories included her death. He set his fork down. The sun was setting, Grimmjow should be here by now.

"So, are you going to be cool when he gets here?"

"Course, I am, who could be cooler than your dear old dad?" Isshin smiled. "But I would like to take a look at his eye, I am a doctor after all."

"Okay, but just don't make a big deal. I'm going to go over and see what's keeping him."

"I'll come too."

"No Dad, that will make it look like it's a big deal. I thought you said you believed it was an accident."

"Maybe Warren needs some looking after too."

"I'll find out what I can, but just wait here, okay?"

Isshin relented. "Alright."

"Thanks, Dad."

Ichigo crossed their yards in a couple of bounds and stood on the front step. He raised his hand to knock, but remembered the car in the yard. Grimmjow's dad hated to be interrupted when in the middle of a game, so instead Ichigo just turned the knob. Nothing happened. _Weird,_ Ichigo thought, they never lock the door. His dad could never remember to take keys and Grimmjow came and went so much it just never became a habit for them. But then again, things were off in the household of late, maybe they just needed their privacy. Ichigo went around the side of the house toward Grimmjow's bedroom to throw something at the window.

When he got around the side he knew something was off. All the curtains in the house were drawn. He and Grimmjow used to signal to each other when they were kids from their bedrooms, hold up messages each other, just for fun. Ichigo had watched the late-night poker games, the drinking, Grimmjow putting his dad to bed—he had seen their lives through these windows. And he could hear music blasting inside. This too, was not normal.

A knot was twisting in Ichigo's stomach. He glanced back at his own house but didn't turn back. He didn't want to wait one extra second in case something was wrong and went back to the front door. He knocked at what he considered a respectful level and waited. His anxiety was growing every second, he knocked again, much louder. Still no answer.

He looked back at the car. He didn't remember seeing it before. It was a beige stationwagon, nothing out of the ordinary in these parts. He almost turned away before he noticed the passenger window was down. He knocked again but took a closer look inside the car. When he saw what was inside, a shot of cold went through him. Broken glass lined the floor, the window wasn't down, it had been smashed. This car was stolen.

"DAD!" Ichigo screamed running back to the door and shaking the handle in vain. "DAAAD!" He abandoned the door for a window. Isshin was stumbling out of the house by the time Ichigo put his elbow through the glass.

* * *

"What was that? Can't hear a damn thing over that music."

"Yeah, well, we shut it off and someone might hear them screaming over the gags. Go check it out."

"Okay then, masks on, just in case."

The two men paused to roll black ski masks over their faces and one left to check out the front door. Grimmjow was on the floor, the other man straddling his legs, hand wrapped around a knife that was digging deep into his lower back. Grimmjow screamed again when he resumed his work. He had no idea how long they'd been torturing him, but he knew he just wanted it to end. Let them kill him, let the pain stop. He'd been sick repeatedly as they ripped him apart. His blurry eyes rested on his father. And somehow, those eyes were worse than the physical pain. His dad had been forced to watch it all, everything they did to his son because he was an addict who couldn't pay his debts. Because of his failure and his choices.

Tears seeped past swollen eyes and stung into the deep cuts that now covered half of Grimmjow's face. There was a cry of surprise from the other room, suddenly the weight on Grimmjow's back lifted and he moved just enough to see both men heading toward the door.

_Someone is here. Some one has come to save us._ Grimmjow thought in relief, but then it turned to dread. _Ichigo. It has to be Ichigo_. Slowly, very slowly, Grimmjow brought his hands around in front of him. They'd been unbound a while ago, but he hadn't used them. He looked now at the missing digits and thought he might be sick again, but he couldn't stop moving, it was his only chance. He used his palms to pull the gag from his mouth and dragged himself forward, the pain in his back was incredible.

"Da..." he couldn't speak properly, the gashes in his face made it too hard to open his mouth all the way. "Da..d." Despite everything they'd done to him, he crawled his way up to his father, got to his knees and leaned his head against his dad's shoulder. They hadn't taken all his fingers; he struggled with the knots.

His father tried to speak behind the gag. Grimmjow took a second to pull it down and continued his work.

"Go."

"No."

"Grimm...ow," his father's mouth was full of blood and empty of teeth, but Grimmjow knew everything he was trying to say.

"Les jus ge ou of here..."

There was shouting from the entry, Grimmjow tried to hurry and prayed it wasn't Ichigo. But the men rounded the corner and he instantly understood. Masks on, guns raised- Grimmjow and his dad were the only two who had seen their faces. Whoever was at the door didn't matter once they were dead.

The first shot went off. That instant hung in eternity. Ichigo came around the corner, but it was too late, it was all too late. Grimmjow felt the impact reverberate through his father's body. It seemed to take forever for his eyes to work their way from the shooter back to his dad. It took even longer for him to register Warren Jaggerjaques's wide-eyed frozen stare, the line of crimson snaking down the bridge of his nose and wending down his cheek like a final tear. Nearly in the dead centre of his forehead was the indentation, the point where the bullet broke flesh and skull and buried deep in the nerve centre of what made him who he was, the drunk, the gambler, the widower, the father. All of it erased by that one hot ball of lead.

"NO!"

Grimmjow was standing. Bones were broken, far too much blood had been lost, but he was standing. And he saw that face, even if it was covered by a mask. He knew those eyes, he knew every detail and he howled- a pure, primal noise rising up from the depths of his soul, anguished, vengeful. Grimmjow made it one step towards his father's killer.

Ichigo felt a jolt go through him when the second shot went off. Grimmjow's leg gave out, it had been panicked and poorly aimed by the other gunmen. Grimmjow jerked back but he was still standing. And he was still standing when the man who killed his father walked forward with cool determination and fired directly into the centre of his chest.

For a moment, no one in the room moved, they just watched as Grimmjow, still frozen in that moment of pure pain and rage, fell back, his body hitting the floor at his father's feet. And then Ichigo was screaming. Something hit him and he was falling backward. Shots rang out all over but the men were running now. They jumped out the back somewhere and a few seconds later Ichigo heard their engine. He struggled past the weight on him but his father held him down, checking they were really gone.

Then he was moving just as fast as Ichigo to get to Grimmjow's side. Blood flowed from everywhere, Isshin felt the tremor in his son's body as the terror really struck him. Ichigo's hands shook and he looked like he was going be sick when he pressed his hand over Grimmjow's thigh. Isshin forced himself to see a patient and not his would-be son. He shut down his emotions, ignored his distraught son, and set to saving Grimmjow's life.

* * *

_**Well let me start by saying I told myself when I first wrote this scene several months ago that I could never publish it because it is the single most violent and disturbing piece of fiction I ever wrote. I don't know where it came from but a story unfolded from this monstrous moment and became something I am actually rather proud of, so I decided, in the end, to take the risk and share it. It is also my very first AU but maybe because I had been working on Psychology of Grimmjow I found it very easy to write Grimmjow and Ichigo as friends/pseudo brothers living in the real world. If you can stomach this chapter, then you are past the worst of it and I hope you decide to find out where it goes. **_

_**Thanks,**_

_**Riza**_


	2. Chapter 2

Ichigo looked up sharply when the doctor entered the room. He jumped off the bed but felt a wave of dizziness and he was quickly guided back down. "Is he alive?"

"Calm down Ichigo."

"Is Grimmjow alive? Where's my dad? Tell me!"

"Ichigo. Yes, Grimmjow is still alive, but it will take some time to stabilize him. I am here to see how you are."

"I'm fine, I'm not hurt, please-"

"Ichigo, you're in shock. You just experienced a traumatic event, you can't underestimate what that can do to you."

"I know!" The teen knew these details well. He may not be officially trained, but he'd helped his father in the clinic plenty of times and he himself had given this exact spiel to countless patients. Except now it was him, and he felt like he needed to run and never stop running, or lay down and never get up, and the air was thin and dry and his whole body couldn't stop shaking. "I know," he repeated softly and he felt the hot streaks on his cheeks. The door opened again and the doctor that entered this time did not stop moving until he had his arms around his son.

"Dad." Ichigo felt the tide coming out without control. He clung to Isshin's shirt but his father was not much better.

"I know, Ichigo." Isshin's voice was breaking. Neither could hold it back. Father and son clung to one another, trying to come to grips with their grief.

* * *

The ventilator pumped on steadily. Isshin looked down on the broken boy in the bed. He'd asked the other doctor to give Ichigo some sedatives so he could rest. Now he stood over the boy he wished he could have saved before all of this. Someone moved next to him and he nodded to the surgeon, an old colleague. Though both MDs, the surgeon spoke plainly to Isshin, seeing that the other was still a bit shaky himself and just needed the bare facts.

"There is no way of knowing whether he'll wake up. If he does though, he's waking up to the best circumstances we could provide. We were even able to reattach all but two of his fingers."

Isshin's eyes worked their way past all the other bandages to the hand in question. Grimmjow's right hand was thickly bandaged where the last two fingers should be. He also noted the brace around his wrist in lieu of a cast.

"He's right handed." He breathed out dismally.

"Yes, I was concerned about that...the lacerations to his face are sever, some penetrated his cheek, if he wakes anytime soon, he will not be able to talk." Isshin didn't need to be told this, he could see for himself the mess of cuts concentrated on the right side of Grimmjow's face, sewn together as best as possible.

"Great, he can't write, can't talk. So if he wakes up, he won't even be able to communicate with us."

"There are other ways, a keyboard for example." His friend offered.

Isshin said nothing.

"He has every chance of pulling though this."

"I tried to read his chart but..." Isshin stopped to draw a long, trembling breath. "Ted, could you give me a rundown?"

The surgeon resisted putting a hand on his friend's shoulder, choosing instead to keep his voice even and professional so that maybe, for a moment, Isshin could think of this in terms of a patient and not someone he cared for.

"The first bullet broke his femur. Luckily, he is young enough that it should heal in full, the whole leg is in a cast, but he can't put any weight on it at all for at least six weeks. He suffered a severe beating, two of his ribs were broken, four more fractured. The contusions on his back...it looks like they were trying to carve the number six there. Fortunately, they didn't get his kidney but the nerve damage is severe. He may experience pain there in future."

Isshin nodded. "What about his chest? The bullet, what damage was there?"

"The bullet struck him just bellow the manubrium, in the body of his sternum. We had to remove a few bone fragments, but it missed his lungs, heart and spine. I know it is no comfort, but it could have been much worse."

"Tell him that when he wakes up." Isshin grit his teeth and reached a hand out to Grimmjow, but it didn't seem like there was anywhere he could lay it that wouldn't touch an injury so he just pulled it back and scrubbed his face.

"Isshin, the police are outside, I asked them to give you a minute."

"Thank you, Ted, but I'm ready." Isshin stepped away from it all- the ventilator that pumped oxygen into Grimmjow's body, the beeping machines, the IV- and into the hall to relate what he knew of this tragedy.

* * *

Azure eyes opened on a plain white and grey specked ceiling and then Grimmjow's body convulsed as he tried to breath but his esophagus clenched around something foreign and hard.

"Grim..GRIMMJOW! Nurse! Doctor! ANYONE please help!"

When the ventilator was removed, Grimmjow almost passed out again, but Ichigo gripped his hand and held it tight enough to hurt. His hazed eyes flared open enough to register a familiar face. Ichigo smiled, but beyond the bandages that covered half of Grimmjow's face, he had no idea what the other was feeling. Nurses and doctors were buzzing about, Grimmjow's eyes faded again, but before they closed, those blues trailed down to Ichigo's hand holding his own. He clung to hope that Grimmjow would feel some sort of relief that most of his fingers were still there, and that he would know he was safe and not alone when he slipped back under.

While the doctors ran tests and examined Grimmjow, Ichigo called his dad to come to the hospital. Isshin said he was on his way, and Ichigo went back to clean up his math text books he'd dropped in his excitement.

It had been three weeks since Grimmjow had officially slipped into a coma. When Ichigo finally managed to get himself back to school, he came here everyday to do his homework, praying Grimmjow's eyes would open. Now he sat, nearly shaking, in a chair out of the way, wondering how his friend would be when he woke up fully. The initial relief was fading and being replaced by fearful anticipation.

When Isshin arrived, the doctors were gone and he joined his son at Grimmjow's bedside. They waited most of the evening but he didn't wake up again.

"Even though he's been in bed all this time, his body's exhausted." Isshin comforted his son. "But he isn't on a ventilator anymore, that means he's much stronger, his body know what to do on it's own."

"I know." Ichigo said. His father's arm fell over his shoulders and squeezed him.

"When he's ready, we can move him home. It's not like we don't have the facilities for him."

"Really?"

"Of course. He needs us. But it won't be easy. I've been trying to make Karin and Yuzu understand without giving them details."

"Karin was crying the other night. I think she's figured it out."

"I know. She asked me if she could come see him. But not yet. Not until we know just how he is."

"Do you think..." Ichigo took a breath and restarted, "Dad, I don't know what to say to him when he wakes up. How do you think he'll be?"

Isshin's grip tightened around his shoulders. "It will be hard, but we can do it."

* * *

It was still a number of days before Grimmjow regained consciousness for any sustainable period or enough for his mental state to be evaluated. But when Isshin and Ichigo were pulled aside and given a report it was not what they had hoped to hear.

"Physically, he could communicate if he wanted to." Ted began explaining. It was true, Grimmjow had not moved a muscle when Ichigo and Isshin stood at his bedside, but that could mean anything. He might still be confused or tired or simply in too much pain.

"What do you mean, _if_ he wanted to?" Isshin questioned the surgeon.

"Grimmjow's face has healed significantly since he wasn't awake and moving the tissue around. The scarring might look bad, but underneath, the tissue is healed enough for him to talk with little problem. The fact is, he simply doesn't want to."

Ichigo felt the sickening implications of this. The doctor continued. "The psychiatrist has been to see him. But it doesn't do much good if he won't speak. We've tried to get him to use the keyboard with his left hand, but he just turns away every time we get it out."

"Maybe he would try for me." Ichigo suggested.

"No Ichigo, it would be better not to put him in that position. If he doesn't want to talk, don't force him." Ichigo looked to his father.

"Wisely put." Grimmjow's doctor said. "If you think you can handle it, then, I am willing to discharge him into your care, Isshin."

"Yes, please." Isshin grasped his friend's hand, knowing it was not exactly conventional and that he had most likely gone out of his way to make this happen, "Thank you so much, Ted."

* * *

It was about a month since Grimmjow had been admitted to the hospital the night that he was taken home in an ambulance. He was pretty groggy on the trip and when he woke up in the Kurosaki clinic, he was confused. He stiffened and gripped the rails of his bed with bandaged hands but locked onto the figure in the room. Ichigo looked up, Karin was asleep in his lap but he set her on the chair to move closer to Grimmjow.

"Hey, it's okay, you're at the clinic, at our house. Do you remember leaving the hospital?"

Grimmjow nodded. Ichigo smiled. "Good. Karin and Yuzu couldn't wait to see you. They helped decorate your room." He indicated the hand drawn pictures and cards, the balloons and field flowers strewn all over the room.

"Do you like it?" Ichigo turned to find Karin awake and rubbing her eyes.

Grimmjow nodded, she smiled. Isshin had explained Grimmjow's condition to both his daughters and Karin was happy to get even this response.

"I think you should go to bed, Karin. You're tired." Ichigo prompted.

"Okay. Night Ichigo, night Grimmjow." She left the room in silence. Ichigo stood next to Grimmjow for a long time, not knowing what to say. "You can put weight on your leg in a couple weeks, I bet you're sick of this bed. How's your back?"

Grimmjow shut his eyes for a moment. Ichigo didn't know what that meant and he hesitated to say anything more. Grimmjow opened his eyes again, however, and held up his hands, surveying them. He did this often, he was only ever awake for brief spurts and Ichigo was sure it was hard to remember what was real and what was a dream. He didn't know if Grimmjow wondered if he dreamt them being cut off, or if he woke worried that he'd dreamt them being reattached. Ichigo watched him tentatively try to close his hands but with little success.

"They'll get better." Ichigo encouraged. Grimmjow had up to his knuckle on the two fingers he was missing, meaning he could have prosthetic that bent if he chose. Ichigo couldn't tell his reaction to this when he told him. Soon though, Grimmjow began to drift and Ichigo left him to sleep.

* * *

Isshin laboured over the papers on his lap, hardly able to concentrate on the words as he heard the rapid breaths coming from the sleeping teen in the bed a few feet away. It had been several days since his arrival at the clinic and Grimmjow still hadn't made any improvements in terms of his mental state.

Isshin looked up from his paperwork when he heard Grimmjow wake from another nightmare. He hurried over to the bed before Grimmjow ripped his IV and monitors off again. The night terrors had been getting worse every night. Isshin had said nothing to Ichigo, but he slept in the recliner in the private room with Grimmjow every night after he'd found Grimmjow half out of the bed and hyperventilating. Tonight Isshin got there quickly, but Grimmjow was still half in his dream and fought against him for the first moments.

"Grimmjow! Grimmjow you're here with me. You're safe." Grimmjow stopped struggling and went limp in Isshin's arms, body breaking out in sweat all over. "Shhh. It's okay." Isshin rubbed the teen's back soothingly. "Are you alright now, Grimmjow?" He looked down. Grimmjow nodded weakly, but his fingers were still gripping his arms as much as they were able so he didn't move away. He stood for a long time, just trying to bring some peace to the boy. After a while, Grimmjow's hands went slack and Isshin let him back on the bed gently. He straightened his leg and the sheets and moved around a few cords, but felt Grimmjow's eyes were on him the whole time. Something was different. So he sat down on the side of the bed and finally asked Grimmjow the question he had promised not to ask.

"Grimmjow, please talk to me." Grimmjow immediately turned his face away, looking to the left and exposing those terrible scars. His other side was nearly flawless, but this side was like a mask it was so different. "I'm sorry Grimmjow, but I want to know what is going on up there. I want to hear your voice again." Grimmjow turned back to him at this, and he was startled to see what looked almost like guilt in those blue eyes and, for the first time since waking from the coma, water rose up and tears over flowed.

"Grimmjow." Isshin watched a few tears turn into a full onslaught. He managed to get Grimmjow sitting again and held onto him tight. Grimmjow's whole body heaved, his sobs uncontrolled, muffled only in Isshin's collar. Isshin was aware of the frantic edge to Grimmjow's inhalations, aware that he could make himself pass out or sick, but none of that was any worse than him holding this pain inside any longer. Grimmjow clung to Isshin almost painfully tight, as if he might die if he ever let go. After about twenty minutes though, Grimmjow's grip slackened and his breaths were more shallow. He wasn't asleep, though clearly, he was exhausted.

"I'll get you some water." Isshin poured a glass and helped Grimmjow hold onto it while he drank. He went though two full glasses and lay back again. Isshin brushed back Grimmjow's hair from his eyes and just held the side of his face for a moment. Grimmjow stared back at him, still shaking slightly.

"It's okay Grimmjow. You'll talk to me when you're ready. I will be here, anytime, whenever you need me. You know that right?"

Grimmjow didn't respond. Isshin was concerned but then pale, trembling lips parted. Blue eyes fell to the bedspread and out of his mouth came his first words in more than a month.

"I never wanted to hear my voice again." It was barely a whisper but Isshin heard it clearly. He gripped Grimmjow's shoulder reassuringly.

"Why?"

"Because all I can hear are my own screams. Over and over, all the time that I'm awake I hear myself screaming on that floor. I already see his eyes all the time, everything they did to him, I didn't want to hear my voice again too."

"Oh Grimmjow." Isshin pulled the exhausted boy into a gentle hug.

"It never stops, ever. I can hear my fear. I was so afraid. I was a coward."

"No, Grimmjow, no you weren't. Never think that, please, never think that. What happened to you...most people couldn't come back from that. You're so strong, you have to know that."

"But I still feel like I'm going to be sick, all the time. I still feel everything they did to me. And now it doesn't even go away when I sleep." His voice was breaking again. Isshin held him tight. "Will it ever go away?"

Isshin didn't know. For all those years of school, of studying and exams and interning—he didn't have a clinical answer for his patient, just the answer of a man doing his best to help this boy, and so he nodded, and kept a tight grip around him, "It has to."

This time the tears didn't last long, they couldn't, Grimmjow was spent and he fell asleep still in Isshin's arms. For a long time, Isshin just sat there holding him, wishing he had all the answers.

* * *

Isshin waited a few days before he let the police know Grimmjow was talking again- though he still didn't speak much and mostly only to Isshin in the dead of night. Still, no one knew what happened- everyone had their assumptions, but with only Grimmjow as witness, the report was rather incomplete. The police had been to the hospital a couple of times after he woke up, but Grimmjow just stared past them the whole time they asked questions. Now Isshin entered the clinic with them, hoping that Grimmjow would only have to go through this once.

"Grimmjow?" He was lightly sleeping. Not able to rest much in the night due to nightmares, Grimmjow was in and out of wakefulness all day long. Isshin had the officers hang back a moment while he brought Grimmjow awake, in case he was in the middle of a dream again. But blue eyes opened calmly this time and it seemed the teen already knew what was coming.

"Isshin." He looked past him and spotted the officers. "I can't."

"Yes you can."

"Please, don't make me." Isshin's jaw clenched. He saw the near panic in Grimmjow's eyes. He looked back over his shoulder at the police before sighing deep and turning back to Grimmjow. "Of course I won't make you, Grimmjow, but they will just come back another time. The sooner it's done, the sooner they can start finding the people who did this to you."

Grimmjow shut his eyes. He took a few shuddering breaths but then nodded.

"Thank you." Isshin raised the head of the bed and waved the officers over. They were kind, friendly, but nothing would make reliving this tale any better. Isshin stood at his side the whole time, his stomach clenching at every awful detail. Grimmjow cried. He stopped several times, saying he couldn't bring himself to say out loud what had happened. He glanced and Isshin every other minute, and at first Isshin thought he was looking for support, but soon he realized it was because Grimmjow didn't want him to know. And when he told them about the money he stared at the bed. He tried so hard not to make it seem like his father's fault.

"The six they cut in your back." Isshin whispered.

"Because it was 60 000, yeah." Grimmjow said and then he repeated word for word everything the men had said and now his voice was flat and low. This wasn't sorrow anymore, this was anger. He gripped the sheets with his ever-strengthening fingers as he described ever detail of each of the men's faces, but one in particular: the one who had been standing over his father when he entered. The one who had shot his father in the head, and he in the chest. The one who had scarred his face and cut his fingers off while he lay screaming on the floor.

"Do you have any idea who this 'boss' could have been?"

Grimmjow shook his head. "Mostly he just gambled with guys like himself. Only once or twice a month did he actually leave the house for a big game. But I never knew where, or with who."

"Okay. Thank you Grimmjow, you have been a great help. Please, rest up." The two motioned for Isshin to follow them out. He glanced at Grimmjow in concern but he was still sitting staring at the sheets and not moving.

"I'll just be a minute," he said quietly. No reaction. He stepped into the hall.

"Sir, do you have any idea what Mr. Jaggerjaques was involved in?"

"I'm sorry I don't. His car was almost always there, I rarely saw him leave the house since Grimmjow was old enough to run errands for him."

"Okay then." The officer hesitated.

"What is it?"

"This kind of thing- doing this to a person, we're not talking about Tuesday night poker players. Like the boy said, this was an example, and no one was supposed to walk away. In your statement, you said that they made sure they shot Grimmjow and his father, but they made no serious effort to harm you or your son."

"Because we never saw their faces, or heard them speak." Isshin said knowingly.

"That is certainly a possibility, but why not make sure everything was clean and get rid of you and your son as well? No, I believe they were following orders, only the Jaggerjaques were the target, otherwise this could have been mistaken for something other than revenge."

Isshin nodded. That night, when he pulled Ichigo to the floor, they really stood no chance. He hadn't had much time to consider it in the heat of the moment, but ever since he had struggled to understand why the gunmen hadn't killed them as well.

"You must realize sir, that Grimmjow could still be in danger."

Isshin pulled back out of his thoughts sharply. "What?" but he already knew the answer, he just didn't want to face it.

"I'm sure by now the people who did this know Grimmjow's alive. And now he's identified them."

Isshin felt anger rising. He grabbed the officer by his jacket. "You bastard, you just put him in more danger!"

"Sir calm down. In fact no, I haven't. If they've already been identified, then killing Grimmjow will do nothing. However, if we arrest a suspect, and Grimmjow has to testify-"

Isshin stepped away from the officer and leaned against the wall feeling his breath quicken. This wasn't over. This could happen all over again.

"Sir are you alright?"

"No." Isshin admitted. "No, how can it ever be made right? This won't end now, unless those bastards are never found, never made to pay for what they did."

"Sir, we'll do everything we can. Trust us." Isshin said nothing. The officers left. He took some time to calm himself down before re-entering the room.

"So now you know." Grimmjow had his one good leg bent up, his head resting against it and arms wrapped around it. Isshin suspected he'd broken down again.

"Grimmjow, I'm sorry. But I had to know."

"Are you happy?" Isshin was caught off guard by the harsh edge.

"What?"

"Now you know, now they know!" Grimmjow was suddenly screaming.

"Grimmjow, please-"

"How does it change anything? How does it make anything better if you know they made him watch? If you know I pissed myself when they cut my fucking fingers off! If you know I just wanted them to kill me!"

Grimmjow smashed the tray next to him, dishes went flying. He pulled his heart rate monitor off, threw off the blankets and made to get out of bed.

"Grimmjow stop. You can't-your leg." Isshin said, restraining him.

"Get off of me!" He screamed in frustration, pushing against Isshin but no where near strong enough to win. "Just let me go! I can't stay here anymore! I can't do this!"

Grimmjow struggled until his exhaustion won out. Isshin just kept holding him until he was spent. Then the tears came on strong and hard.

"I'm sorry." Grimmjow kept sobbing. "I just didn't want you to know. I never wanted anyone to know..."

"It's okay." Isshin gripped his hand. Grimmjow's eyes began to close but he gripped back.

"I want to bury him."

"The police have his body in the morgue."

"I know. But I need to give him peace. Please."

"I'll call them, find out what I can."

The hand in his own went slack, Grimmjow was asleep.

* * *

Isshin had so many things going around in his head, so many fears, but if this was what Grimmjow needed he would make sure it was done. The police agreed to release the body, he arranged for a small service the following day.

Ichigo got Grimmjow ready, helped him dress, got him into the wheel chair. It was just the five of them, but that was best. Grimmjow was silent the whole time at the grave site. Ichigo stood behind him, his father beside them, his daughters both holding tight to his hands. They got fast food on the way home and sat in the family room eating and watching tv when they got back. Grimmjow didn't speak the entire night except to say thank you to Isshin. He fell asleep on the couch. Ichigo and Isshin decided to leave him there.

"Better for him to be with us now, I think." Isshin said. Not out in the clinic. He doesn't need the monitors anymore I don't think."

"Good. And he can try standing next week, right?"

"We'll see. He's coming back strong though, his grip is already at lest sixty percent back to normal. I can't believe how fast his chest and ribs healed. I know it was hard on us, but him being asleep those three weeks gave his body a chance to heal."

"How about his back?"

"I don't know, the tissue has healed over, but I can't tell how the nerves are, only he can let us know that and he never talks about it."

"Then we'll probably never know. He never says anything. What did he tell you, dad?"

Isshin looked down at his son. "It's not for me to repeat, Ichigo."

"I know how much it upset you. You've been different ever since the police came." Ichigo paused before continuing. "I just always think, what if I'd forced Grimmjow to come over for diner that night? What if I had refused to walk away from the house? What if I'd gone over earlier to check on him?"

"Then you might be dead, Ichigo. Please don't dwell on questions like that. You're just a kid. If anyone should have done something it was me, years ago."

"Dad..."

"Ichigo, get some sleep. I haven't forgotten about you. You know that right? I know how hard all of this has been. Go on up to bed."

"Are you coming up?"

"I will. Good night, son." Isshin gave Ichigo's shoulder a squeeze and watched his son run up the stairs. He however, sat in the easy-chair next to the couch. Grimmjow was still sleeping soundly, but it was only a matter of time until the nightmares came.

* * *

**_Thank you for the reviews! This is definitely one of the most challenging stories/subjects I've written._**

**_Riza_**


	3. Chapter 3

"I can't move it."

"Now Grimmjow, don't panic. The muscles in your leg have been held straight for weeks. It's going to take some time for them to get moving again."

"But I can't, nothing's happening." Grimmjow was already covered in sweat, and panic crept into his voice as he stared down at his shrivelled leg. He sat on a table in the clinic. This was his second cast off in a week, his wrist had healed nicely and wouldn't need much work, so he was unprepared for how weak his leg would be.

"Grimmjow." Isshin had been trying to examine the limb but came to the boy's side. "Just hold on. Here, Ichigo, help us out." Ichigo had been cleaning up the remains of the cast but stopped his task and came to their aid at once. His father got him to put a supportive arm around Grimmjow while he himself took hold of his leg and they gently turned so the limb was no longer on the table. Grimmjow at once felt the twinge in his muscles as gravity assisted in bending his knee.

"Slowly now." Isshin said as he guided his leg down inch by inch. "The muscle have contracted and just need to be stretched out. You'll have to retrain them."

But Grimmjow didn't respond, his face was set in a grimace. Isshin stopped.

"No keep going," Grimmjow said. "I can take it."

"Tell me when to stop then, okay?" Isshin kept going and Grimmjow unconsciously moved forward so Ichigo kept a firm hold to keep him upright. He watched the mix of pain and relief in Grimmjow's eyes until they became more definitely focused on pain.

"Isshin!" Isshin stopped and looked up. Grimmjow was shaking, his leg now past 45 degrees.

"Grimmjow you did fine." Issshin brought his leg back up. "We'll work on it again tonight. Everyday you'll see improvement. Now then, let's see if you can stand."

Both Ichigo and his father took a side. He may not be able to bend his knee, but Grimmjow really wanted to be able to stand. He'd been flat on his back for so long he just needed to be upright again.

"Shit." He swore when his bare feet touched the floor. He felt Ichigo's grip tighten but Isshin seemed willing to let him go. Grimmjow glanced at him.

"You can do this."

He took a shuddering breath and nodded. "Ichigo, let go."

Ichigo wanted to protest, but he didn't. Instead he moved away and watched Grimmjow stand on his own two feet. Grimmjow actually laughed: a sound of exhausted relief. He stood for a full thirty seconds before reaching back to grip the exam table and Ichigo and his father both moved back to help him.

"That was amazing." Grimmjow sighed when they got him back onto the table.

"It was." Ichigo agreed.

Isshin was still looking at his leg but smiled approvingly. "As far as I can tell, the bone healed smoothly, it should be strong as ever in no time. I'd like to get you in town for some x-rays tomorrow though. And for your wrist, just to make sure, okay?"

"Okay." Grimmjow nodded.

* * *

Ichigo took the day off school to go with Isshin and Grimmjow to the hospital. He didn't know why, but he could see a flicker of something in Grimmjow's eyes, and in fact, his father's too, when they discussed the trip. He was glad he went, Isshin had to go talk to different people about using equipment and Grimmjow otherwise would have been left alone waiting. Ichigo watched him in silence. He had been out for his father's burial, but then they had seen no one but the priest and the man from the funeral parlour. Now he seemed to be scanning every face that walked by.

"You okay, Grimmjow?"

"Huh?" He turned to face Ichigo. "Yeah, fine."

Ichigo didn't believe him but changed the subject. "Orihime asked about coming to visit you."

"What, she did?"

"Yeah. What do you think?"

"I don't care, she'll just end up hanging out with you anyway. When are you two going to admit your basically together?" Ichigo turned bright red and Grimmjow actually cracked a grin. "You moron, just ask her out."

"Well, maybe when she comes to visit then."

"Yeah right, you'll be tripping all over yourself with her in the house. You'll never have the guts to do it." But Grimmjow's grin faded and he looked to the floor. "Have you told her much? Like, about my face...?"

Ichigo bit his lip. Grimmjow hadn't really spoken of it much, but yes, the change in his features would be a shock to anyone who didn't know. It was so strange, the left side of his face was so flawless, the sane handsome features he'd matured into, and when he looked sideways sometimes Ichigo would forget. But the right side was thick with scars, crisscrossing in all direction from his cheekbone down to his chin.

"Uh, yeah, I did."

"Good."

Silence followed for a while after that, then Ichigo got up the courage to ask Grimmjow a question that had been burning him for a while.

"Are you going to go back to school, Grimmjow?" It was their senior year, Grimmjow had missed nearly two months now and he didn't even know if it was possible for him to catch up.

"Don't know. Maybe see if they'll let me back in after winter break."

"Yeah, start the new semester. I bet they could do that."

"Yeah, we'll see."

Isshin came back and they were able to run their tests. Everything checked out fine. Isshin had also arranged an appointment with the physiotherapist. She had already been to see Grimmjow to help him with his hands, and now she went over what exercises he would have to do to get his leg back in working order. Ichigo and Isshin listened intently as well, as they would have to help Grimmjow through the first stage of his physio.

There was one more stop before going home, one Isshin had not told them about. Grimmjow caught on pretty quickly, however, and immediately began to protest.

"I do not need to see a shrink."

"Grimmjow don't use that word." Isshin reprimanded and kept pushing the wheel chair forward.

"Isshin!"

"It's not what you think. I would like to get you a sleeping pill, I think it would help alot."

"Then you can prescribe me one."

"It's not my area. I could, but I want a second opinion. Just a couple minutes, Grimmjow. She can talk to you and figure out what suits you best."

Grimmjow said nothing, he didn't have much choice as Isshin just kept propelling him forward. Ichigo was surprised that, once introducing Grimmjow to the psychologist, Isshin stepped out and shut the door leaving them alone.

"Dad, what's going on?"

"Just what I said."

"But you _could_ prescribe a sleeping pill, you don't need a psychologist for that."

"I know, Ichigo. But I wanted him to just meet her."

"So you do want him to go to therapy."

"Ichigo, he needs it, badly. I don't know how we'll ever get him to go, but this way she won't be a stranger. Besides, I think he needs something more than a sleeping pill."

"Anti-anxiety pills?"

"Something like that. For now at least, to take the edge off."

"It's that bad then? I can hear you at night, you know."

Isshin sighed. "It hasn't gotten any better."

"Will it?"

"He asked me the same thing. Honestly, I don't know. We just have to pray it does."

The door opened, the doctor motioned them in. She went over Grimmjow's pre-scription with Isshin. Ichigo watched Grimmjow, his expression unchanging and unreadable. Isshin thanked her, they left. Grimmjow said nothing the whole way home. They pulled into the garage and used the clinic entrance. They always went this way, and Ichigo knew it was for more reasons than just the wheel-chair- he didn't think Grimmjow had even looked at his house since the ordeal.

"Grimmjow, talk to me." Isshin said when they were settled back in the living room. Ichigo sat on the arm of the couch, afraid of what Grimmjow's reaction would be, but the other was strangely calm.

"I'm not mad." He said. "I just don't want to need them, you know? But if it makes things...feel different... then I'll take them."

"Good." Isshin rose. "I'm going to make us some lunch then, okay. Then we try out what the physiotherapist showed us."

Grimmjow nodded, Ichigo slid into a chair and put the t.v. on.

"Ichigo." Ichigo looked up at Grimmjow in surprise. He never started their conversations.

"Yeah."

"I've been thinking about something."

"What?"

"I think your dad has too."

"Grimmjow what is it?"

"They shot me in the chest." Ichigo tensed, wondering where this was going to lead. "They meant to kill me. I saw their faces. I identified them. Ichigo, they could come back, to finish the job."

Ichigo clenched the arm of the chair.

"The police would have told us if they thought that was a possibility."

"I think they did, the night they interviewed me they took your dad into the hall to talk to him."

"Have you asked him?"

"No. I...didn't want to bring it up."

"You want me to ask him?"

"Maybe."

"I will."

"But Ichigo, you know what this means."

"What?"

"I can't stay here. I'm putting you in danger, all of you."

"Bullshit, you're our family, where else would you go?"

"Ichigo, it's not just you I'm risking, it's Karin and Yuzu."

Ichigo grit his teeth. He understood his point but that didn't mean they could send Grimmjow away. He didn't have time to iterate this, however, before another voice cut in.

"And if it was Ichigo, do you think I'd send him away?" they both looked back at Isshin, tray of food in hand. "I'm the head of this family, it's my decision, and no one is leaving, alright?"

Both boys were startled by the harshness of his tone.

"I said, _alright?"_

"Yes." They both sputtered out.

"Good." Isshin put the tray of food on the coffee table, "and that is the last I want to hear about it."

They just nodded and he walked out.

* * *

The sleeping pills made a huge difference in Grimmjow. Now able to get through the night, he was much more active and energetic in the day. His mood still remained quiet and sullen, but physically he improved greatly, able to work on his physiotherapy and push his muscles further and further each day.

He even managed to get through a visit with Orihime without seeming too depressed, though Ichigo did not manage to ask her out on a date. She had been great, though. She was awkward in the best of circumstances, but when it came to making Grimmjow feel comfortable and normal, she was amazing. Unlike Ichigo, she seemed to know just what to say all the time.

The one drawback came when Grimmjow started walking. At first he grimaced through the pain but eventually it became too much and he collapsed into Isshin. He tried to pass it off, but the next attempt was so painful he screamed and actually let fall a few tears. Ichigo was alarmed but Isshin seemed to understand right away.

"It's your back, isn't it?"

They had gotten him into a chair and he had his face covered with both his hands but he nodded.

"Is it always this bad?" Isshin asked.

"Comes and goes..." the muffled voice said, "...worst during physio."

"Okay. Just rest."

"What? No." Grimmjow brought his hands down. His face was flush with colour from the pain, but his eyes were determined. "Please, I want to keep going."

"Only if you promise to be honest with me about the pain."

"Okay."

"Alright then, Ichigo." They each took a side and helped him stand again. He made a full walk around the room before it happened again. Isshin called an end to it for the day, but Grimmjow kept at it.

Every day the pain was less, Isshin suspected that it would improve with practice, but he feared it would never go away completely. The stairs presented a particular problem. Grimmjow used them to get the strength back in his knee and leg, but it often triggered the pain in his back. Yuzu came out of the kitchen in alarm one day to discover Grimmjow laying on the stairs. When the pain passed he was able to keep going but she then sat and watched him the entire time to make sure he was alright.

For Grimmjow, it felt very liberating to be mobile again. Where found relief, however, it caused Isshin worry. He noticed Grimmjow starring out the window at his old house more frequently. He knew eventually, the question would come.

"Can I go over there? I mean, are the police all done and stuff?"

"Grimmjow, I don't think it's a good idea." Grimmjow pulled away from the window and looked to Isshin.

"I just...want to get some stuff."

"I'll go get anything you want."

"Isshin, it's just a house. It's mine now anyway, isn't it? I want go through some stuff. Get some clothes, you know..."

Isshin pondered. He didn't know what was the right answer. Grimmjow was still refusing to go to the psychiatrist. He took his medications faithfully, but they were only just keeping him in the balance.

"I will go with you."

"No. I want to go alone."

"Grimmjow, that's not a good idea, I think you know that."

Grimmjow looked at him. There was anger in his eyes but Isshin didn't back down.

"I'm sorry Grimmjow, but you have to understand what I'm saying."

"You are the only one other than the cops who knows everything that happened in there. But this...I want to do this on my own. I want to feel what I have to feel without anyone else watching. I want to do what I have to do."

"Grimmjow..." Isshin watched him. But on a certain level he understood. Not that he could compare the type of suffering, but he would not have wanted anyone to see his own breakdown after the death of his wife. He would not have wanted to feel like he had to hold anything back.

"Okay Grimmjow, but please give me time to go over first. The police would have done their investigation and left. They wouldn't have...cleaned anything up..."

Grimmjow couldn't hold his stare after this statement. He started to imagined the living room, empty save the old t.v, and those two kitchen chairs...the stains on the floor...

Grimmjow practically fell on the garbage can just before he hurled.

He convulsed a few time before calming. Isshin reached out to help him stand but Grimmjow got up without looking at him and pushed passed. He paused in the doorway, back still to Isshin, head down. Isshin waited for him to speak but then he he moved down the hall. After a moment, he heard the bathroom door shut at the shower turn on.

"Dad?" Isshin turned and saw Ichigo in the doorway. "What happened?"

"I think Grimmjow has just realized how long a road to recovery he really has."

* * *

Ichigo heard the door shut to the bedroom next to his a long time after the shower turned off. Grimmjow had moved into the guest bedroom now that he could get up the stairs on his own. Ichigo listened for a long while, expecting to hear something, though he wasn't sure what. After several minutes however, he realized Grimmjow must have taken his sleeping pill and gone to sleep.

* * *

Grimmjow lay in his bed still feeling nauseous. Just talking about that room had brought the horrors of that night back into his waking thoughts, as clear as if they were happening right in front of him. He waited for Isshin to come. He didn't know if he want him to or not. He decided not, so when the door cracked open, he shut his eyes and pretended to be asleep . He heard a soft sigh and the door shut again.

Grimmjow had forgotten about his sleeping pill. He realized it quickly but made no move to get up and take it. Instead he kept laying there thinking about the house. He saw it all so vividly. At first it made him feel sick, but the longer he saw his father's face, saw that blood and the pliers and the knife and the gun, he felt anger. He actually started to feel hot he was so angry. Part of it was directed at those men, but part of it was at himself. He was so frustrated that he couldn't even think about going back there without being sick. He threw off the covers and stood at the window. The curtains were still all drawn in his house. He couldn't see anything inside. But he knew what was behind them. He needed to face it. He needed to know that he was at least strong enough to do that.

He didn't bother changing, it wasn't worth the risk of making any more noise, so he slipped out of the house in his muscle shirt and pyjama bottoms. He didn't linger on the lawn. He moved fast, not wanting to give himself a chance to turn back. He dug up the spare key he knew would still be there in the overgrown garden and unlocked the scene of his nightmare.

His book-bag was still where he had dropped it. For some reason that stunned him. Here it had sat this whole time. He'd been on a walk for hours before he ran into Ichigo that day. He had actually gone to the public library to get a book out for a history project. It would still be in there, long overdue. He remembered the look he'd gotten from the receptionist because of his black eye. He had been mad. It had seemed like such a big deal. What a joke it was now.

Isshin was right, nothing was touched except what was taken as evidence. Grimmjow left the entry and made his way further in, step by step. Some police tape was still hanging between the kitchen and living room. But there they were: the two chairs. He kept moving. He could practically see his father still tied to his. His own was clean, he'd been on the floor most the time; it had been the only way they could fully restrain him. He saw the broken back of the chair where he'd nearly gotten free while they'd mutilated his face. He saw with some relief, maybe, that his father's chair was also damaged, that he had fought against the restraints, he hadn't just given up.

Isshin was also right about the floor. It was stained here and there, not really identifiable as blood, just off colour. A couple of rags were on the floor, he realized it was their gags.

He ran to the sink. This time it was even less, he didn't have much left in his stomach. He slid down the counter to the floor, his back twinging painfully. How could this be his home? How could this be the place where he'd grown up? It didn't feel anything like that place. Despite everything his father was, they'd had good memories here. He remembered their lopsided plastic Christmas tree propped in the living-room- that very same room that now made him gag. Superbowls, birthdays, his first A+ - all had been celebrated in that room. And it was also the room where he'd also learned how to play poker, how to cure a hang-over, how to talk to women.

"Dammit." He hollered, slamming his fists into the floor. He stood up and stared at the room beyond the police tape, the room that filled him with so much conflict. He stared at the kitchen chairs. Two, just two. It was all they had, all they needed. It was all he could see every minute of every day. And then he was moving. He threw open the closet and pulled out the baseball bat. His dad had always kept it there- just in case. So much good it did them in the end. But now it had a purpose. He gripped it tight with the strength he'd had to fight to get back in every finger.

And then he swung.

He pounded those chairs into splinters. He didn't know how long it took, but eventually he realized he'd put a sizable hole in the floorboard and stopped. He felt the twinge of pain in his back and dropped the bat to put his hands flat against the floor. He was soaked in sweat, his breathing fast and shallow.

"Impressive."

Grimmjow whipped around and stared through the darkness. Every muscle in his chest constricted when he made out not one but two or three forms standing there, in the kitchen, just a few feet away.

"You know, we could have interrupted you but I thought it might be therapeutic."

Grimmjow lunged for the bat but they had him in seconds. He fought viciously, every nerve on fire with fear, desperation to get away beating back any pain or weakness from his still healing injuries. It took all three of them to restrain him. Someone was straddling him and covering his mouth, someone else had has arms and the last his legs.

"SHHH, calm down kid." He didn't recognize them, none of them were the two men he'd identified. "We just need to talk. How about we go somewhere a little more private?"

At this Grimmjow renewed his fighting. He knew if they got him away from here that was it. But all hope faded when someone jabbed him with a needle and the room turned black.

* * *

_**Thanks for the reviews so far!**_

_**Riza**_


	4. Chapter 4

Grimmjow came to in a chair. The moment he realized he wasn't tied down he got up and ran for the door. It was locked of course, but he wasn't thinking clearly. He scanned the room, looking for anything to help him, but there was only two chairs and a long table. Above those were glaring florescent lights. It seemed like an imitation of a police interrogation room.

The door knob turned, Grimmjow rushed to the far side of the room, giving himself as much distance and as much time as possible to assess the threat.

"Well hello, Grimmjow." The man who entered greeted. Grimmjow said nothing from his position flattened against the far corner. "Please, relax. Come have a seat."

Grimmjow didn't budge. The man continued to smile and took his own seat at the table. "As you wish, you may remain as you are, I only wish to talk."

He had a folder that he set emphatically on the table.

"I must begin with an apology. If my man had not failed to kill you that night, we wouldn't be in this unpleasant situation."

Grimmjow didn't respond.

"But here we are. I am guessing you have not heard, but the two men who attacked you that night have been arrested. It only happened a little more than an hour ago, I am sure the police had every intention of informing you."

He sighed as if he really were sad about something. He had handsome features, brown hair, sophisticated glasses and a crisp white suit. But there was something familiar about him.

"You see, normally I would let them rot for screwing up so badly on such a routine assignment. Collect money or make an example so the next person doesn't make the same mistake. Leave no witnesses. The problem this time, however, is that one of the men now in custody, is my son."

Grimmjow's eyes widened a little.

"If you haven't figured it out already, I am Sosuke Aizen. No doubt you've heard about me in over embellished stories in the news."

Grimmjow felt his vision blur. Sosuke Aizen, the Hollow King? The single dominant figure in the underbelly of Karakura?

"So you have heard of me. Good. Now, I am not afraid to admit that my son falls short of my ideals, but he is my son and I will stop at nothing to protect him. He and his chosen associate were the ones who attacked you that night. And now, because you are still breathing, they are in jail. I should have sent someone to slit your throat while you were on that ventilator."

Grimmjow finally found his voice.

"Then why didn't you?"

"Think about it. An act like that would have left no doubt who was responsible. Not that I fear the law in anyway, but I much prefer a subtler route. Those who need to know, had no doubt why Jaggerjaques was taken out. The rest of society can go on living in peace, without knowing that Karakura's underworld is operating right in their midst. It is a balance. Society needs me to keep that balance as much as they need their policemen and judges."

"So here is what I need you to do, Grimmjow. I sincerely wish you were six feet under, but killing you now would be just as good as saying my son is guilty and _that_ is a lot more work for me in the long run. Having you say it was not him while he stands in a police line-up, however, ends this before it begins and we can all continue on in peace. You can even live out your own pathetic life if you wish to."

Grimmjow said nothing, just stared at Aizen.

"Okay look, if it is a matter of pride, let me make it easy for you." He opened the folder and began sliding photographs across the table. "If you could just come a bit closer." Grimmjow eased himself off the wall. He felt the cold floor beneath his bare soles, felt his heart beat thrumming against his sweat soaked tank. But he already knew what he was going to see before he picked up the first picture.

"They are so adorable, are they not?" Aize smiled. Grimmjow's hands trembled. He was staring at Karin, holding Yuzu's hand as they walked home from school. The next one was them in their bedroom asleep. Someone had gotten just outside their window. And there was Isshin getting the paper. There was Ichigo going to school. There he himself was looking out his bedroom window and with cold fear he realized it was tonight, taken just an hour or so ago.

"This last one I might have to explain." Aizen passed him a photo of a car, parked across from the clinic. He handed him another and another, always of that car. He realized there was someone in it each time. "That is the plain clothes officer that has been assigned to watch your house. We have been watching before he got there and he still has not noticed. The police cannot help you. Dr. Kurosaki cannot help you. _You_ are the only one who can help you, and help them. So unless you want to relive past events, only this time will include the whole Kuroskai household, then I suggest you do everything I say."

Grimmjow dropped the photos.

"Take a seat."

He did.

"Very good."

Grimmjow sat in dumb silence the entire time Aizen spoke. There wasn't much to say really. He would not identify Aizen's son or his associate. He would say that the man had a scar on his chin, and swear he had given that in his initial report. He would say how much he remembered that scar, how it was seared into his memories and there was no way either of these two men could be his father's killer.

"Do you understand everything, Grimmjow?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Smith." he called. The door opened; a suited man entered with a bag.

"Kurosaki has already discovered him missing and gone to the house." He informed his boss.

Grimmjow stiffened but Aizen raised a hand.

"Remember, as long as you do what I say, everything will be fine." Grimmjow just nodded. "I trust you left no evidence of our visit?" he asked Smith.

"None."

"Okay good." he held out his hand for the bag and took a bottle from it. He slid it across the table to Grimmjow. "Drink this."

Grimmjow read the label but he didn't have to; he'd seen enough bottles of rum around his house in his lifetime. He wanted to say something but he didn't know what might trigger Aizen's rage. Fortunately the other answered his unspoken question.

"You will say you found it in your father's house. After smashing up the chairs, you drank it and wandered off."

"Wandered where?"

"Let us worry about that. Start drinking."

* * *

A car spun off in the night, and no one was around to notice what it left behind. Girmmjow had never been drunk before. He'd had drinks with his dad and the poker boys, but nothing like this. He felt like he was going to die. He didn't remember drinking the whole quart, he knew at some point the men had had to intervene and force the last of it in him, but he knew that was nearly a death sentence if no one found him quickly. These thoughts, of course, were long gone now. The world was spinning in a sickening way he didn't know was possible, even when he shut his eyes. Even when he got on his hands and knees and puked. He strained against his swimming vision to see where he was, to see help. He felt his body trembling, shivering but still sweating, and dirt clung all over him where he had fallen. He fell further, feeling asphalt, but seeing nothing save a light in the distance. It grew brighter, it was loud too, but he couldn't hang on.

* * *

"I don't know how this happened, officers. I'm sorry."

"Mr. Kurosaki, we understand the difficulty of your situation, but he was face down in the middle of the road. If it hadn't been us who had found him, he might very well have been run over."

Isshin looked to the hospital floor. The officer sighed. "We were coming to find you anyway. They've got two men in custody fitting the descriptions Grimmjow gave."

"What?"

"We'll have to bring Grimmjow in as soon as he's better."

"Wait, what about the danger?"

"We've had someone watching the house. You're safe, trust us."

"What about here?"

"It would be pretty bold to make a move in a public place. But that's up to you, he's free to be taken home is he not?"

"Yes, as soon as he wakes up. He had alcohol poisoning but they got most if it out of his system. If you hadn't found him so quickly however..." Isshin's voice choked off. The officer reached out and grabbed his shoulder, the same who had interviewed Grimmjow about that night.

"Of all the cases I have done in the years...well, Grimmjow's keeps me up at night, sir. I know you have done everything for this boy, and I know how deeply he his damaged. Don't blame yourself, but try to be more careful."

"I thought the house was being watched. So did they watch Grimmjow wander away drunk?"

"I can't explain it, sir. We didn't know he had left his house until you came running out."

"Great." Isshin sighed and the officer excused himself. He looked down on the mess of Grimmjow, filthy from sweat and dirt and puke and now charcoal staining his lips black. He should have seen it coming, he thought. They'd been lucky so far.

Grimmjow woke up in the morning, still very sick. Isshin didn't ask him anything, just piled him in the car and took him home. Ichigo was sitting waiting. He had stayed with the girls but clearly hadn't slept. He helped Isshin get Grimmjow up to the bathroom. He began to help the teen clean himself up. Grimmjow was shaking terribly, Isshin got him to rehydrate but it didn't seem to make a difference.

Despite everything he knew, all of Grimmjow's problems, Isshin was still angry. So while he had Grimmjow sat on the side of the tub so he could wipe the last of the puke off his neck, he made him look him int he eyes and explain.

"I had to see."

"But why Grimmjow? I told you I would let you go."

"No, I couldn't wait. I had to know I wasn't a coward."

"Grimmjow!" Isshin gripped him tight, feeling the utter shaking of his muscles. "Would you stop saying stuff like that about yourself!" He calmed, hearing Grimmjow's breathing trembling now as well. "Why did you drink the rum? _How_ did you even drink that much? You almost killed yourself."

"I don't know...it was there...I was upset..."

"Look at yourself. You're all beat up, your feet are a mess, you didn't even have shoes on. I need to look at some of these cuts, can you manage a shower?"

Grimmjow shook his head, "Just leave it. I'm sorry."

"Grimmjow, I'm not ignoring this even if I don't understand why you did it."

"I just want to lie down."

"No Grimmjow, I mean, look at this." He looked down at a deep bruise along Grimmjow's forearm. Grimmjow realized at once it was from his struggle with the men and pulled away before Isshin could look too closely. He stood up, as difficult as it was, and leaned against the sink. He could see the wheels turning in Isshin's head from his reflection in the mirror. He could see him still looking him over, assessing every cut and every bruise.

"Can I get some privacy?" Grimmjow stared at Isshin's reflection, praying he wouldn't question the marks. "Isshin?"

"If you think you're all right."

"Yes, I'm fine, now please."

Isshin rose slowly, Grimmjow gripped the side of the sink tighter and tighter. As soon as the door shut he cranked the shower and grabbed a towel and shoved it into his face. He had barely kept from screaming the entire time Isshin watched him, now he needed it to get out. He wanted to break everything, he wanted to shatter the mirror, he wanted to rip everything off the shelves, but if he did any those things, he would give the game away. Isshin would put it together, and then who knew what they would do? So he sat on the bathroom floor and muffled his screams into that towel.

* * *

When he emerged from the bathroom nearly an hour later, Isshin was waiting. He had hoped he would be able to slip into his bedroom and Isshin wouldn't bother looking at the cuts but no such luck.

"I said I'm fine." he said, stepping toward his room. "Plus, they would have checked me over at the hospital right?"

"They were more concerned about getting the alcohol out of you. And they knew they were releasing you into my care."

"Isshin, please don't."

"Don't what, Grimmjow? Why are you fighting me on this?"

Grimmjow hesitated. Now he was afraid he was protesting too much.

"I just...I'm really sorry I got drunk, I don't want to cause any more problems for you."

Isshin's shoulder's slumped. "Grimmjow, I'm sorry I got angry. And helping you is not a problem, okay? Get changed and come on down to the clinic, alright?"

Grimmjow nodded.

"Good."

* * *

Grimmjow sat in the clinic. He'd barely made it down on his own, he still felt horrifically sick, and he wished he could attribute it all to the hangover. He kept thinking about the room, Aizen, the shock that these were the people Grimmjow's father had gotten involved with. How could his father have been so stupid? And now Grimmjow would never escape what had happened. He would have to let his father's killers go, they would never get their justice and there was simply no way around it. He had sat there in dumb silence, he'd bitten his tongue and agreed to everything. He knew he had no choice, he would never do anything to endanger the Kurosakis, but it still felt like cowardice to him. And it definitely felt like defeat.

"Grimmjow, you're still shaking."

Grimmjow looked up at Isshin but had no explanation.

"Grimmjow...I know we've been avoiding the topic, but after last night, I think it's time we revisit the discussion of you going to to see Dr. Belle."

"The psychiatrist?"

"It would mean alot to me if you would try."

Grimmjow stared at him. Did he really just play that card? But how could he refuse? Isshin had done everything for him. Besides, he had swallowed enough anger and orders in the last twenty-four hours, then what was one more?

"Okay." he practically whispered. He noticed Isshin's surprise, his hand hesitating for a moment before finishing the wrap around his foot, but then he continued on, sensing how important it was to not make this a big deal.

"Good, then I'll give her a call and set up an appointment."

Grimmjow nodded.

"There," Isshin was done. "Now, I think you should go back to bed."

"Yeah."

Grimmjow slid off the table and headed inside. He passed Ichigo, but couldn't meet the other's eyes. He had gotten away with it. He had done what he'd promised Aizen, but it seemed to just make him all the sicker.

* * *

"Something is wrong." Ichigo sat across his father in the living room.

"No kidding, Ichigo."

"It's just...I really didn't expect this from him."

"Neither did I, and look what happened. I'm going to have to keep a closer eye on him."

"Dad, I didn't mean-"

"Ichigo, just leave it. He agreed to the psychiatrist. I'd say that was one good thing that came out of all of this mess."

"I'm surprised."

His father just grunted. Ichigo decided to let it be, but wasn't pleased that now, not only Grimmjow was acting strange- more so than usual- but his father was too. He sighed and went up to his room. Isshin sat for a long time in silence, watching out the living room window.

* * *

"GRIMMJOW!" Grimmjow sat up sharply, struggling with the person trying to hold him down. "Grimmjow stop! DAD Help!"

Ichigo slammed back into the floor, Grimmjow on top of him. The door whipped open and Isshin immediately understood.

"Grimmjow, wake up."

Isshin grabbed Grimmjow by the shoulders and hauled him off Ichigo. He kept him firm against the wall with both hands but Grimmjow had stopped struggling. It was the longest it had ever taken to calm him down and snap him back to reality. Ichigo was panting on the floor, but clearly more alarmed for Grimmjow than himself.

"Grimmjow, are you alright?" Isshin breathed.

It took a long time for blue eyes to come back entirely. And then he was back and aware of himself. But before he could speak, his face creased in pain and suddenly Isshin was holding him up.

"Easy." He helped him back to the bed where he fell sideways. "Your back?"

Grimmjow just nodded into his pillow.

"Okay, it's okay, it will pass."

Grimmjow moaned out through gritted teeth. Ichigo moved closer to his dad.

"What do we do?"

"Just have to wait it out."

It took a couple of minutes before Grimmjow relaxed a bit and took a few deep breaths.

"I'm okay now." Grimmjow whispered and sat up.

"You're medications are probably all out of wack from you throwing up so much." Isshin said softly, seeing Grimmjow still wincing and squinting in the light. "I think you'd be okay to take your next dose, would you like me to get it?"

Grimmjow nodded. Isshin moved away and Ichigo took his place to keep Grimmjow supported. He looked like he might topple off the bed.

"Is there anything you need me to do?" He whispered.

"No. Sorry I jumped on you."

"Don't worry about it. I heard you cry out, so I came in. I guess you were dreaming."

"Guess so." They said nothing more about it. Isshin came back with the pills and some water. Grimmjow took them and they sat in silence for a bit.

"How's the hangover?"

"Better." Grimmjow said, though still hoarse.

"Listen, Grimmjow...the police were talking to me. They have someone in custody." Grimmjow didn't react so Isshin continued. "They've asked for you to identify them in a lineup."

Still nothing.

"Grimmjow, do you understand?"

"When?"

"When you can."

Grimmjow nodded. He put his hand on Ichigo's shoulder to help him stand. "Now. Please, I want to go now."

Isshin nodded.

"Okay," Grimmjow breathed and looked to Ichigo. "Can you help me get ready?"

"'course."

In half of an hour they were on the road. Grimmjow's back was still causing him alot of pain so Ichigo stuck close in case he fell over again. The silence was nearly unbearable as they walked up to the desk. An officer came to take Grimmjow to another room.

"Can I go with him?" Isshin asked but before the officer could speak Grimmjow interrupted.

"No. Isshin, please, I have to do this myself."

"Grimmjow-"

"Please."

"We'll be waiting for you then."

"Thanks."

* * *

Ichigo sat nervously next to his father in the waiting room. It didn't take very long however; less than twenty minutes passed before Grimmjow came storming out. He didn't even look sideways at them before banging through the front entrance.

"Ichigo." Ichigo understood his father's request and went after Grimmjow while Isshin waited for the officer.

"What happened?"

"He couldn't identify them."

"What? I thought you were pretty certain. How could you make him go through that if you weren't? I was there, his description was so detailed I feel like I saw them myself."

"Apparently it wasn't detailed enough. He swears the guy had a scar. Neither of our perps did. We have to let them go. Grimmjow is the only witness, the only thing to pin them to the crime. There's no DNA to work with. Sorry. We'll let you know if we get any other leads."

Isshin eyed him. "And how likely is that?"

The officer was struggling not to say what he was thinking. But that was enough for Isshin. He spun and followed after the boys.

He found them in the car. Grimmjow was on the passenger side, already buckled and ready to go, head turned staring out the window. Ichigo was sitting uncomfortably in back. He met his father's eyes but for the moment, they let the silence reign.

Ichigo helped Grimmjow out of the car and into the house. The other said nothing, heading for the stairs. Isshin was staring after him, torn between remaining silent and addressing the situation.

"Grimmjow stop." Isshin's voice was so quiet. Ichigo remained frozen in the entry, nearly choking on the tension in the room. "Leave your jacket down here."

Grimmjow turned back and looked at him. It was some sort of test and Ichigo had no idea what his father was testing. Grimmjow sighed and pulled his coat off. Isshin approached and took it, but that was not his focus. He was staring at Grimmjow's upper arm, the dark bruise imprinted there. He raised a hand slowly.

"Don't, Isshin." Grimmjow warned but Ichigo watched his father close his hand slowly over the bruise. Ichigo thought he'd had enough shocks for one lifetime, but he could hardly catch his breath when he saw how perfectly his father's hand fit over the bruise. That was not from falling down drunk. Someone had grabbed him and held him hard. Grimmjow's eyes were glistening, his lips shaking. But he still tried to pass it off.

"The police had to pull me off that road..." His voice was thick, he was holding it back.

"Oh God Grimmjow..."

"Isshin, don't." Grimmjow whispered desperately.

"You weren't alone last night were you?"

Ichigo covered his mouth with his hand. He felt his whole body trembling. He watched those blue eyes trying and failing to hide the truth. Grimmjow took a shuddering breath and shut his eyes.

"Oh God..." Ichigo watched his father collapse. Some final weight settled on Isshin and he fell back into the wall for support before sliding down to the floor, looking like he might be sick.

Grimmjow continued to stand in silence, but beyond his control a tear streaked from one eye.

"No..." Ichigo finally breathed, allowing the full reality of the situation to settle on him. "Oh no...Grimmjow." He moved closer to his friend, his gaze sweeping over the bruises, seeing now all the evidence. When he put a hand on one shoulder Grimmjow half flinched, his eyes shot open again and he looked at Ichigo straight on. He was fighting for control of every muscle in his face but it was a losing battle and he dropped his eyes to the floor and the shoulder beneath Ichigo's hand shook.

Ichigo pulled Grimmjow against, him, feeling him give in completely now. They held each other so tight it nearly hurt and it took Ichigo a moment to realize it wasn't just Grimmjow who was crying. His own body was trembling, his breath fast and short and eyes stinging. Fingers ran through his hair, his father's hand settled on his back just as his other rested on Grimmjow. Isshin held his boys close, praying they had the strength to get through this.

* * *

_**Thanks so much for the reviews thus far! I know the beginning is really horrific but it's supposed to be, it was very difficult to write but I felt it necessary as the catalyst for this story and setting the tone for this story (thought it isn't all dark, I just see this story as a very serious one). **_

_**To SakaSandora-got me there, you're very right!**_

_**To inominatenoname- I really like your thoughts about Grimmjow's dad as a hollow! This one won't be going in a supernatural direction but still a cool concept!**_

_**To everyone- Thank you for shairng your thoughts!**_

_**Riza.**_


	5. Chapter 5

For two days Grimmjow didn't get out of bed. Not to eat, not to do physio, only to go to the bathroom. Isshin didn't make him either. He was still numb from what happened. Grimmjow didn't tell them any details except for the pictures in order to drive home the danger. Other than that he said nothing of who had taken him or where or what they had said. He had even gone back to simple nods or shakes of the head to communicate. Isshin would sit with him for long spurts of time, but he never spoke either unless he was inviting Grimmjow to eat something.

"Is Grimmjow okay?" Yuzu whispered to her father that evening, even though they were downstairs and there was no chance of Grimmjow overhearing.

"He's just not feeling too great. He'll be better soon."

"And you? Are you sick too?" Isshin looked at her sadly, unable to respond.

"Dad's just tired." Ichigo said. "He's not sick, don't worry, Yuzu." Ichigo gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Now, you going to help me clean up the kitchen?"

She nodded and hopped onto the stool next to the sink. Karin joined them and Isshin remained at the table, watching his children wash the dishes. It was several minutes before he felt the presence and turned around. Grimmjow was leaning in the doorway, watching them.

"Grimmjow!" Yuzu noticed too. "Are you hungry?"

He met her hopeful face and nodded. She broke out in a broad smile and immediately went to the fridge to get out the left overs.

Isshin pulled out a chair and Grimmjow silently moved to take his seat at the table. Karin put on the kettle and made tea. They sipped their tea in contented silence and Grimmjow ate everything Yuzu put in front of him. Though it was quiet, and he never spoke, when the girls cleaned up and excused themselves to go do homework, Grimmjow stopped them.

"Thanks for supper." He whispered and pulled them both into a hug. Then they scampered upstairs and Grimmjow sat back in his seat with a long sigh. "I'm sorry."

Isshin looked up confused.

"For what?"

"Everything. Putting you all in danger."

"It's over now, right?"

"That's what he said."

The three sat at the table, the seconds ticking by while both Ichigo and Isshin tried to decide whether they dare ask for any more detail. It was Ichigo who finally spoke up.

"Who was it Grimmjow? What happened?"

Grimmjow looked down at the table clothe tracing one of the repeating patterned squares over and over again while his spoke, never looking at their faces.

"I went to the house. They must have been waiting for me to be alone. I went to the living room...I had a bat, I smashed the chairs. But I dropped it...my back...I didn't even see them until they spoke. If I'd just had my hand on that bat still...but they got me, injected me with something." He rubbed his arm as if he could still feel the sensation. "I woke up in a room. A man entered, told me it was his son who attacked us that night, that the police had him in custody. And then he showed me the pictures, of all of us, here, on the way to school, and of the policeman supposedly keeping watch. He told me what to say and if I did, he'd leave us alone. Then he gave me the bottle. I don't remember much after that."

"Grimmjow, the man," Isshin asked tentatively, reaching out a hand and bringing Grimmjow's face up to meet his own. "Who was it?"

"He said his name was Sosuke Aizen."

* * *

Isshin just kept telling himself that it was over now. Grimmjow had done what he'd promised. There was no reason for the leading crime figure in the the entire region to ever have any interest in them again. He told himself this over and over while he sat in his office, the door locked so he could silently absorb this information without either of the boys discovering his mini-breakdown. The first thing he'd done when Grimmjow finished was to haul him out of his chair and just hold him. He couldn't believe they'd gotten to Grimmjow that fast, taken him away before Isshin had even noticed him missing.

Then when he finally let him go and Grimmjow said he was going for a shower, he slipped away to his office. That had been an hour ago at least, but he could not leave this room before he was able to face both the boys calmly.

* * *

"I think your old man is having a freak out."

Grimmjow said from the couch while he flicked through the channels. Ichigo himself felt like he might snap but Grimmjow seemed strangely relaxed. Grimmjow noticed Ichigo's eyes practically boring a hole into him and finally addressed him.

"What?"

Ichigo snapped back out of his thoughts. "Nothing. I just...you seem to be okay."

Grimmjow shrugged. "Not really, but now you guys know. I don't have to lie to you, and he said it would be all over now. So that's what I want. I just need it to be over. That's why I'll go see the shrink."

"You're still going to?"

"Might as well give it a shot. Can't be any worse than how I feel now."

Ichigo nodded.

"Ichigo, I know this is crazy, everything that's happened. I never meant to bring that on your family."

"Stop saying that. This isn't your fault."

"Okay, then can we just pretend things are normal for a little while? Can we just be friends like we were before all of this shit?"

"Yeah."

"Good. I just...don't want to feel like I'm sick or something all the time."

Ichigo nodded and looked up to meet his gaze. "Renji and Rukia are having a party on Saturday. They asked me to invite you."

Grimmjow considered, but nodded shortly after. "Sure." Then he smiled. "So, they're like, an item now I take it?"

"Yeah, actually. He finally got up the guts to stand up to her brother."

"Impressive."

"Yeah, it is. So I guess he's kind of throwing the party to make their relationship official. Keigo and the boys are really looking forward to it."

"Ah...so there will be booze, I take it."

"Um, yeah. Is that okay with you?"

"I don't care, just don't expect me to drink after my last hangover." Ichigo glanced at Grimmjow but the other was still pretty relaxed so he smiled.

"Yeah, and if Dad ever caught us-"

"I don't even want to think about it." They both chuckled.

* * *

Ichigo watched Grimmjow closely the next few days leading up to the party, but Grimmjow seemed to have come to some sort of peace with his situation. He still had the nightmares, he still went hours without speaking at times, but the truth was out there, he didn't have to hide anything, he knew who had done this to him and and why, and now he knew it was over. Ichigo knew that, deep down, there was a boiling hatred, a rage that he would never get justice, but Grimmjow had shoved that deep for now, and most likely because he was here- with Ichigo, with Isshin and Karin and Yuzu. He was surrounded by love and that seemed to be enough to keep him going. Ichigo talked to Isshin about them going out. His dad was not happy, but at the same time he wanted Grimmjow to practice interacting with his peers again.

"I will drive you there and pick you up."

"Dad-"

"No arguments, Ichigo. And absolutely no drinking."

"Okay, okay."

When the time came, Isshin kept his word and dropped them off with nothing more than a parental warning of not doing anything stupid and then he drove off. Grimmjow knew he didn't want him out of his sight, but he also knew he wanted him to get out of the house. Frankly, he didn't know how he felt about it, but he had to see people sometime, and he figured he could hold it together for a few hours at least. When he got to the door, however, there was still one thing that made him pause.

"Grimm?" Ichigo looked at him quizzically, trying to keep the concern from his eyes.

"It's just..."

"What?"

"Nevermind, it's nothing,"

"Obviously not, what is it?"

"Ichigo..." he huffed a sighed and looked straight up at the sky, "my face."

Grimmjow lowered his gaze again and saw the understanding in Ichigo's eyes. Grimmjow had let his hair grow out a bit in the past weeks, especially on that side, in an attempt to conceal the terrible scars. He didn't seem bothered by it most of the time, but then, most of the time he was at home with people who were used to it. Everyone knew about it, of course, but they would never quite be able to keep that instant of shock from registering on their faces, or the shift of their eyes to try not to look. Ichigo was at a loss but as he stared back at Grimmjow, he was simply honest.

"They know already, and they are our friends. I don't even see the scars, Grimmjow, and soon it will be the same for them."

"I know." Grimmjow said, "Its just...hard I guess."

"Well it won't get any easier standing out here," Ichigo smiled, "so, you okay to go in?"

"Yeah, let's go."

* * *

The party went smoothly. Well, Keigo puked in the bathtub and had to go home before midnight, and Ichigo and Orihime couldn't stop blushing around each other all night, but overall, smooth. Grimmjow had noticed some looks, but Ichigo had been right. He couldn't blame anyone for being shocked. And everyone was nice. Orihime stuck close for a while, knowing she'd been the only one to see him before tonight other than Ichigo. Rukia was also probably one of the most well adjusted to his situation, she didn't try to ignore all that happened but she didn't need to talk about it either and he appreciated that.

However, as the night went on, he started to feel like he didn't belong. He suddenly felt older, or like this was a life that belonged to someone now gone. It wasn't them, it was him. He had changed, he had changed far beyond this normalcy. And he would never get that back, he would never be a stupid teenager again.

The chatter and noise began to get to him and he went outside for some air.

"Too much in there for ya?" He whipped his head to the side to see Renji on the step with a cigarette in his mouth. Grimmjow didn't respond but Renji just nodded knowingly, "me too."

"I thought this was your party."

"Yeah, but it's for them, really, parties just ain't my thing. Cig?"

He held out his pack and Grimmjow joined him on the step. He'd learned to find peace in a smoke somewhere around thirteen. He and his father had had a fight, a bad one. When he'd sobered up a bit, his father had found him in his room, hauled him outside and sat him down on the plastic lawn chair. Grimmjow had been frightened, but then his dad just pulled out a pack of smokes and sat down and lit one. He said every man need's his peace time. Needs something to calm him down and make him think. For him, it had been a cigarette. He let Grimmjow smoke one too. It hadn't been all that pleasant, but over the years, they would have a fight and then after a while, find each other outside in the yard and have a smoke, they didn't really talk, but they just sat their in silence, and they knew they were okay.

Renji could hear the satisfaction in Grimmjow as he took a drag and smiled.

"Been a while, has it?"

"Yeah."

"So why are you out here?"

"Like you said, a little too much."

Renji eyed him knowingly. "Not the same, is it? Coming back to all this, after something like that happens."

Grimmjow was surprised at the others understanding. "You're right. Speaking from experience?"

"I'd be embarrassed telling you, honestly, after the shit you've gone through."

"What do people know? I mean, what's the story?"

"About you? Not much detail. I mean, everyone knows you were shot, twice. That's what counts, by the way, play that up, ladies will love it." He winked. "And you face and fingers. Other than that we don't know a whole lot but imaginations are a wonderful thing ya know? And...sorry about your old man, eh."

"Thanks." They each took another long draw. "So you're story?"

"Well you can probably guess, I mean, I didn't get these tattoos for nothing. Before I got out of the gang and move to Karakura after some heavy shit went down. I was only fourteen, a new recruit, went to a party, a lot bigger than this one. Some rivals showed up, I had no idea what was going on, people were just screaming. I got macheted in the arm, thought it was gonna fall off when I was running. Then the older members showed, up, saved my ass, and dumped me at a hospital." He gave a half smile lit by the porch light. "Shit like that goes down all that time, guys get an adrenaline rush out of it for fuck's sake, but it changed me. I was fourteen and I felt like I'd grown up just like that."

He snapped his fingers and flicked his cigarette butt onto the ground, stomping on it before grabbing another from the pack and lighting it up. He tossed the pack next to Grimmjow in a silent offer.

"For me it was only a few a minutes, a few minutes that changed the rest of my life, the way I see things and people. I know it was a lot longer for you, and a lot worse, but I'm betting whatever gets broken, is still the same thing."

Grimmjow nodded, "Yeah, I think you're right, because what you just described...it's crazy how much it sounds like how I feel right now. I never knew any of that stuff about you. Do the others?"

Renji shrugged. "I had a while before I moved here. I healed up, got past it, and decided not to bring it with me. Only, it never really works that way. Told Rukia about it, and I've talked about the gang to Ichigo a couple of times. And I mean, look at me," he said staring down at his tattooed arms, "it's not like I can pretend I wasn't in a gang. I wear it for everyone to see, so I'll never really let got of that part of my past." He looked at Grimmjow's face straight on. "And I guess neither will you."

"So, any advice?"

"Well, at least you can play victim. People see me and walk the other way cause they think I'm going to jump them or something. But advice, you don't need any from me when you got the Kurosaki's looking after you, and when you have friends like ours. They're so wholesome I can't believe I hang out with them sometimes, but they were the first people to see past my tattoos and you can bet they'll be the first people to see past those scars on your face."

"Yeah, you are right about that." They chuckled, and for a moment, Grimmjow felt very content, almost as peaceful as back then in his yard. He and Renji had never been all that close, mutual friends of Ichigo, really, as were most of the crowd to him. But Renji hadn't been wrong to compare their stories, and seeing him now, how well his life was going just four years later, gave him hope.

But of course the moment had to pass.

"There is something I need to ask you." Renji kept his gaze straight ahead. "So you were attacked, you're dad wasn't the most ideal citizen. But what they did to you... I may not have stayed in that gang, but they were my family since I prospected, and I saw everything. I know how shit like this works. What happened to you was retaliation, hardcore. And who around here would make a statement that big?"

Grimmjow was just staring at him. He dropped his cigarette and stood.

"Has he talked to you yet? Must have, no arrest has been made."

"Renji, we cannot have this conversation."

"Of course not. But I just wanted to tell you something I've heard." He rose and stood behind Grimmjow so his voice was low and he could hear. "Aizen never really finishes with someone once he gets started. Doesn't matter what put you on his radar, you become part of his game. Sometime, who knows when, a situation will arise, and for one reason or another, it will be your name that pops into his head." He wasn't being menacing, he was simply stating cold truth. Grimmjow's fist clenched.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you've been through enough shit you didn't deserve and didn't see coming, so I thought I'd give you a heads up."

"What can I do?"

"Nothing, just do what he asks. He is stubbornly a man of his word, so if he says he won't hurt you or the Kurosakis or whoever else as long as you do what he wants, then he'll leave them alone, until the next time he needs you."

"When?"

"No way to tell, and you know what, maybe never. Maybe he will forget about you. I'm not trying to freak you out, man, but there really is no gentle way to put it."

"No, thanks for telling me."

"Of course. I'll keep eyes open too, still got a few connections around, I'll keep you posted on anything I hear."

Grimmjow nodded. He heard the squeak of tires and Renji moved from his back. "Looks like your ride is here, night."

"Yeah, night."

* * *

Renji stood on the stoop for a long time, his cigarettes long exhausted. The music inside had died, most people had left or found a couch to crash on. He didn't look up when he heard the door crack open and soft footsteps approach.

"I take it you told him, then." Rukia slid down next to him. He nodded and lifted his arm so she could lean against him. "I'm glad, you know, in case something happens, then we know we did what we could."

"In case something happens...makes me sick." Rukia noticed Renji's hand clench tight.

"You got out, remember? You don't need to think about it anymore."

"Not soon enough, Rukia. I think about what happened to Grimmjow, and I think about where I was headed. Man, we would swarm people for the hell of it, scare the shit out of them, beat them. Why? Because we were high on our own strength. Why did I ever want that? I probably would have ended up working for Aizen too- everyone in the underworld does eventually."

"But you didn't."

She gripped his hand, trying to get him to calm down. He allowed his muscles to relax, and slipped his arms around her waist. "I know. But I have a target on my back for the rest of my life now. I did a runner, and the gang doesn't take too kindly to that. Meet the wrong person in the wrong place, and boom, dead. And now Grimmjow has to walk around worried that Aizen will drag him off again. It just burns me up."

Despite her attempts, his hand seized up again and she could feel his body tense. "Renji I don't think I have ever seen you this angry before."

"Aizen...I used to ask myself how one man can become so powerful, but I know the answer. It's because of people like me, who listen to orders and think they're cool. Those are the people who give bastards like him his power."

Rukia was shocked at Renji's quick transformation. She had never seen him so emotional, and frankly she was speechless. She gripped his arms that were around her tightly and just held held him in the moonlight.

* * *

Grimmjow couldn't keep what Renji said to himself for long. He went a couple days trying to play it cool, but he couldn't hide much from Isshin. He had taken to watching out the windows more and more until Isshin had to address the behaviour.

Grimmjow sat down on the couch and repeated Renji's warning. Isshin took it seriously, but didn't panic.

"Short of moving away, there isn't much we can do."

"That's what Renji did." Grimmjow said thinking it over, "Maybe I should too."

"That's not what I was trying to say. Besides, you can't leave, not now, you're too young."

"I'm seventeen."

"You're point?"

"I could take private courses to finish high school, sell the house, find a place far away."

"Grimmjow stop, please. If the day comes that it's the only choice, we'll all go. But for now you need to stay near your doctors, your friends, until you're stronger."

The teen watched the last adult in this world he truly trusted and saw his complete sincerity. Isshin would uproot his family, take them all away from what they knew, for him, and he wasn't even his son. He suddenly felt overwhelmed, realizing just how much he loved Isshin, the girls, Ichigo. And how their love for him put them in danger.

He had thought Aizen had stolen the only family he had in this world, but he was wrong. He had a family right here, but there was no comfort, because Aizen could just take them away too. He covered his face with his hands and felt Isshin move next to him on the couch.

"Grimmjow, what is it?"

But he couldn't speak. He was caught off guard by this feeling, by tears he couldn't control, by the terrible mixture of thankfulness, love, fear and dread inside him.

He did his best to wipe away the tears, to sniff back these feelings, but it took along time for it to pass. Isshin had an arm around him, and he felt the strength in it, the protectiveness, the comfort, things he had rarely experienced in this life time, things he craved more than he would admit, and things he wanted to hold onto, but he knew, in that moment, he would let it all go. He had to. Because the only way to protect these people was to run away.

"I'm okay." he said sitting up now, feeling much calmer. "I just...I don't know where I'd be right now if I didn't have you, Isshin. Thank you."

Isshin smiled, and put his hand on Grimmjow's head. "You will always have me, Grimmjow, you are a part of this family, and we stick together no matter what."

Grimmjow smiled too and nodded. After a moment, he excused himself and went to bed. Shutting the door behind him, he leaned back against it, shutting his eyes and taking a deep shuddering breath.

"Tomorrow," he thought, "tomorrow I'll leave."

* * *

_**Thanks for reading! Will try to update again soon!**_

_**Riza**_


	6. Chapter 6

Things did not go at all according to Grimmjow's plan of running away. First, Isshin woke him bright and early to take him to his appointment with the psychiatrist which he had completely forgotten. They dropped the girls and Ichigo off at school and then headed for the hospital, Grimmjow still half asleep in the passenger seat. The session had been difficult for himself. Even though he'd told himself it was the last time he would have to get therapy, he'd still gotten quite worked up during his hour with Dr. Belle. His muscles must have been tensed, and when he went to leave, the damaged nerves in his back sent a bone chilling pain down his leg, his knee buckled and he collapsed on the floor.

He was thoroughly unimpressed when the psychiatrist called an emergency. He knew it just needed to pass. Isshin found him in the emergency room, fighting with the staff to let him up.

"Went to get a coffee and look what happened." he said trying to make light of the situation.

"I'm fine and you know it, make them let me go." The teen shot out grumpily from the bed but Isshin shrugged,

"The surgeon is going to take a look, I say let him, can't do any harm, and he knows more than me about stuff like this. Saves us making an appointment."

"Fine." Grimmjow huffed out.

So they ended up spending half a day in the ER. The surgeon did take a look and scheduled a few tests for later in the week to see if surgery could fix the nerve damage. Grimmjow sighed at the news, secretly thinking that now he had to decide if he wanted to stick around that long. If he went on the run, he wouldn't really get another opportunity to find out if his back would get better. He guessed he could stay a few more days.

He used the next days to gather up a few essentials. He convinced Isshin to let him go to his house, on the condition that Isshin join him. He didn't even look sideways at the living room, just ran up the stairs to his bedroom. It was surreal, the way things were just as he had left them. He had intended on grabbing a bag, filling it with some clothes and then sneaking all the cash he had stashed away and what he could find of his dad's into the bag as well. He managed to focus on this for all of a minute before he dropped his bag and just sat on his bed. He couldn't really say why he just sat there, he wasn't lost in a memory or having a flashback, he was just here, in this place that had been his but when he was someone else. It was this strange untouched space, seeming out of place and out of time with his life now. At some point he lay down and after a while he heard Isshin's footsteps on the stairs. He snapped back enough to dig out the cash in his mattress and shove it in his bag before Isshin opened the door.

"I'm sorry." Grimmjow said, looking up. "I guess, I just got a bit lost, thinking about things."

"Don't apologize."

"You know, it's like time was frozen here."

Isshin nodded knowingly. "When my wife died, I slept on the couch for months. She had been the last one in the bedroom, made the bed, pulled out her jewelry and dropped her makeup on the floor. I just left it all like that, as if she might come back, as if she was still there."

"It's weird, huh?"

"Yeah."

He looked around at the posters on the wall, the essay half written on his desk, laundry still in the hamper.

"Damn." He stood up and grabbed his duffel, he'd had enough emotional moments this week already, he didn't want another. "Can we go back now?"

"Of course."

That night, Grimmjow repacked the duffel with the essentials he would need when he left. His best clothes, his medications, his money. He hesitated over a photo Karin and Yuzu had given him, of the family. He stared down at it for a few moments before placing it in next to his cash.

"Tomorrow I get the tests, soon as I get the results, I'm gone." He said to his pillow when he swallowed a sleeping pill and fell into his bed.

* * *

Grimmjow lay on the table, face to the side, bare back exposed to the doctor above him and his fists clenched in sterile white sheets.

Isshin stood watching in concern, his professional interest conflicting with his parental one. The surgeon moved the scope further under his skin. Grimmjow cried out and grit his teeth, sweat breaking out over his whole body. He heard a nurse say something about his blood pressure and then Isshin was at his side.

"Grimmjow, we can you give you a sedative."

They had practically insisted on it before the procedure- a mildly invasive scope that would give a closer look at his scar tissue and how deep it ran and the damage it caused. But when it came down to it, Grimmjow had panicked at the idea of being put into an altered state, and refused medications. They had proceeded, but now the intensity of the pain was getting to him.

"How much longer?" He managed through his clenched teeth, Isshin blurred by the tears forming in his eyes.

"A few minutes, Grimmjow please."

But Grimmjow just closed his eyes and tried to shut out the feeling. He kept telling himself that the instrument in his back was wire thin, just millimetres thick, nothing compared to pains in the past. But those scars on his back were sensitive, just one wrong move walking and he would be floored, so to have something actually moving past and touching those damaged nerves-

Grimmjow saw bright white lights and heard himself scream before his lunch rushed up his throat and he was heaving all over the operating room floor.

* * *

"Just take the drugs next time, please." Isshin said as he helped Grimmjow get his shirt on. The teen just nodded, still pale and looking like he might throw up again. "We'll get the results next week, but Dr. Havoc was optimistic that he can help you based on what he saw. The only side effect is that you may have some numbness in that area."

"Are you kidding?" Grimmjow grunted out as he got his arms through his sleeves. "I don't care if I can't feel anything there if it means I no longer feel this pain."

"Good. Well, we'll find out for sure soon. Now," He left Grimmjow on the recovery bed while he got a wheel chair, "it's going to take a couple of days for that to heal up, even though it was so small. When you felt the pain, you tensed up, it makes the healing a lot worse."

"So, drugs next time." Grimmjow said, attempting to stand. His leg didn't even come close to locking and he fell into Isshin who eased him into the wheel chair.

"Yeah.

And so Grimmjow was not only stuck waiting for test results, but laid up on the couch for three days watching bad daytime television and cartoons with Karin and Yuzu. He only had to wait one more day after he was back on his feet for the results and was back at the hospital waiting on Dr. Havoc.

"Grimmjow, Dr. Kurosaki," Havoc smiled. "Good news, I have determined what area is causing the pain and can sever those nerves completely so they will no longer trigger the pain. This means you will have little to no feeling in that area-"

"When can we do it?"

"I have an opening in four weeks."

Grimmjow was visibly disappointed.

"That's soon, Grimmjow," Isshin tried to reassure him and the teen nodded, trying to hide his emotion.

"Yeah, no, it's great. What is the recovery time like?"

"You would have to remain immobile for four to five days after so all the tissue heals correctly, then another few days at home and you'd be fine."

"Okay." Grimmjow said, but knowing he could not wait a whole month plus recovery time to leave, he was just putting them at too much risk.

"Good," Havoc said grabbing some forms, "we'll go ahead and make the arrangements."

* * *

Finally it was time. As much as Grimmjow wanted relief from his pain, he just couldn't afford it. He had guiltily let Isshin go forward with the plans, fill out all the forms, but if he said anything to the contrary it would be suspicious. He sat on his bed, duffel bag already to go. He shoved it under his bed and headed downstairs for a last meal with the family.

But once again, his plans were interrupted.

Ichigo came home in some sort of state and ran up to his room without saying a word to anyone. Grimmjow stared at the staircase where the sound of his bedroom door slamming shut could be heard and glanced back at Isshin.

"Did he say anything to you?" Isshin shook his head no, completely lost. "I'll go check it out."

Grimmjow headed back up the stairs, feeling the girls' eyes burning into him. It was rare to see Ichigo emotional, and when he pushed the door open he was even more surprised to see him angry. His chair was already toppled and he threw his pillows violently toward the other side of the room before sinking onto his bed and holding his head in his hands.

"Whoa, Ichigo."

The orange haired teen jumped, not having heard him come in.

"Leave me alone, Grimmjow."

"No."

"Piss off."

"Come on, Ichigo, what's up?" Ichigo didn't look up at him, but Grimmjow had gotten a chance to take him in. His hair was plastered to his head with sweat, his white school shirt was scuffed all over with dirt and even torn. His knuckles, clenched over his face, were raw and bruised and his knee was ripped open and bleeding.

"Shit Ichigo, look at me."

No response.

"Come on, what's the damage?" Slowly, battered hands lowered and he saw the massive black eye and bloody lip. It even looked like blood was crusted in his hair line. Someone had worked him over pretty good.

"Who was it?" Grimmjow demanded, feeling his own blood beginning to heat up.

"Same stupid assholes who have always been beating me up."

"No way, you put the fear in them years ago."

"Yeah but they go for Chad and he just doesn't fight back, I can't stand it. There were more of them this time, down by the bridge, I fucked up, got the crap beat out of me. Only time when Chad will actually use those fists of his. If he hadn't stepped in, I'd be worse."

Grimmjow was now fully enraged. He was half reaching for the door handle to go storm out and kick some ass when he noticed Ichigo trembling. He pushed his own anger aside and told himself that for once, this was not about him, he needed to focus on someone else's needs.

"Hey, you okay?" He tried to kneel down in front of him but the twinge in his back made him rethink so he grabbed Ichigo's arms and pulled him up. "You're in pretty rough shape, man." He was starting to see the less obvious wounds, the abrasions around his neck, the hand shaped bruises on his arms. Ichigo's shirt was already half open, Grimmjow yanked it up just enough to see his stomach.

"Oh shit, Ichigo." He saw terrible red and purple bruises all over his stomach. "Oh those bastard will pay." But Ichigo was trembling worse now, no sign of tears, but there was no way that violence and pain like this wouldn't shake him. "I wish I'd been there." Grimmjow whispered, pulling Ichigo against him in as gentle an embrace he could give. Even after all his injuries, Grimmjow was still the bigger of the pair, and whatever strength he had left, he wanted to use it to help Ichigo. After a moment, he pulled back and eased Ichigo back onto the bed. "I need to get your dad, this is pretty serious."

Isshin was upset. Ichigo sat in silence, just staring at the clinic wall while Isshin patched him up. He'd even cracked a rib. Isshin swore a few times and then slapped the last bandage on.

"Grimm, can you help him back upstairs, I'm going to call the police."

Ichigo looked up at this, "What, no, dad, you can't."

"And why not? Son, look at what they did to you."

"So? Don't you remember how it used to be? I'd come home roughed up all the time, you never called the police."

"This is worse than roughed up, Ichigo."

"No, dad, it will seriously make things way worse."

"He's right." Grimmjow said.

Isshin looked between the two. "Fine." He shot out. "But you are on bed rest for the next two days at least, come on." He slid his arm under Ichigo's and helped him up. Grimmjow watched them leave and then with no hesitation headed for the front door.

"Where are you going?" a small voice asked him as he shoved his hands through his coat. He turned and looked at Karin. "You're going to beat them up right? The ones who did that to Ichigo?"

Grimmjow said nothing. Karin didn't either. He left the house.

* * *

_**Time to see Grimmjow as something more than a victim! Some revelations in the next chapter.**_

_**Riza**_


	7. Chapter 7

It was dark by the time he got there. The bridge: it had long been their hang out- a once peaceful, beautiful place transformed into their little slum. It was worse now. As they'd grown older, their habits had matured. Now, instead of a little rebellious drinking and smoking, they were indulging in much harder substances. That was why they had beat Ichigo so bad, and why he had lost. Some of those drugs could make you not feel pain, make you feel invincible.

But before he made it very far, he heard another angry voice and drew back behind the bushes. A figure was storming down the bank on the other side of the bridge right into the midst of the gang.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" One of the guys asked and rose to meet the stranger. He blocked Grimmjow's view.

"I am taking back what's mine." The newcomer grabbed something out of the guy's belt and shoved him down. Grimmjow realized it was a gun, which the man now waved around at the rest of the gang.

"Hey, man, we paid for those, fair and square." The gang member picked himself off the ground.

"We had a deal!" The stranger yelled, "You stop beating up high school kids and I'll do business with you. You start again, and the deal is off, so give them back."

The stranger moved just close enough to their camp fire that his enraged features were lit up and Grimmjow gasped. Renji pistol whipped another one and stripped him of his weapon before the others registered what was happening and reached for their own weapons.

"Don't even try it." Renji said coolly, kicking the man he'd just hit into the sand and placing a foot on his chest. He kept his gun straight on him as he addressed the others. "Now, if you would like your leader to remain with all of his brains, such as they are, in his skull, then toss your guns into a pile over there."

There was a long, tense silence. Then they began to make a pile of their weapons.

"Good." but Renji didn't back off just yet, "one other thing," he stared directly down at the leader, "You haven't heard anything about Sosuke Aizen lately, have you?"

"No, Abarai, we swore when we started doing business with you we don't work for him."

"I know that, but have you _heard_ anything?"

"Like what?"

"Anything."

"Same shit. His kid is causing problems for a lot of people. Aizen spends half his time cleaning up his messes."

"Really? Worse than what happened a couple months ago?"

"Pretty much."

Grimmjow's gut clenched. So that little bastard and his dead-eyed partner were going around torturing other people. And they were free because Grimmjow had let them go free.

"Okay, thanks." Renji withdrew and gathered up his guns.

"Hey man, seriously, we paid for those."

"Deal's a deal and you broke it. Come see me in a few weeks, if you've stopped beating up kids, then maybe we can talk."

"Fine." the leader spat in the sand. Grimmjow questioned why they didn't jump Renji right then and there, he may have the weapons but he was out numbered. But nothing happened, they let him walk away. Grimmjow's anger faded to a cold lump at the bottom of his stomach. He left the scene and got back up onto the road. Renji was already gone.

"Shit. What the Hell is that guy playing at?"

* * *

Grimmjow wandered for a long time that night, thinking it all over, considering his conversation with Renji on the steps the night of the party. Had he been lying about getting out of the gang? He said he still had connections, this would explain why. At some point he found himself standing on those very steps, hand raised to knock, but still not sure what difference any of it made, why he was even here.

But then the door opened and Renji was staring at him with a less than pleased face.

"So that was you back there."

Grimmjow was a bit surprised Renji had seen him. "Come in, then." He stepped aside and Grimmjow entered. Renji didn't bother saying anything, he just led Grimmjow to the back of his bedroom, opened up a very small closet and pressed on the back boards. They fell down to reveal a small room, probably a lady's walk in closet Renji had converted to his purposes. There were all sorts of weapons on the shelves. Renji was into something serious.

"You didn't get out, did you?"

"Yes I did." Renji answered evenly. "But I fled from one end of the country to the other and had nothing when I got here. I had to support myself and go to school. I only knew one way of making cash. I'm not in a gang, I'm just a dealer, just me. I don't work for anyone else, no one works for me. I'm free of it all, Grimmjow, this is just a means of survival."

"But where do you get them?" Renji made a face. Grimmjow narrowed his eyes. "Renji?"

"Sosuke Aizen." Grimmjow's hand was around his throat before he could even think. But Renji didn't fight back. He just stared down at him, waiting. Slowly, Grimmjow regained himself and let go. Renji continued as if nothing had happened.

"I know a guy who knows when Aizen's shipments come in. I'm careful, I don't use a regular schedule, but every now and then I take a crate, just one, small, hardly throws their numbers at all. Anything could happen to one small crate in his massive shipments. That's all you need to know."

"You steal from Aizen?"

"Yeah."

"And you sell weapons to punks like those. They could have killed Ichigo!"

"I know, hence my conversation with them today."

"You lying son of a bitch," Grimmjow pushed past the clothes in the closet and back into the bedroom. "I can't believe this."

"Why? You don't know me, Grimmjow, why is it so hard to believe?"

Grimmjow didn't answer, instead, he had another question, "You were asking them about me, weren't you?"

"Yeah. I told you I would keep an ear out."

Grimmjow nodded. "He's out there killing people because of me."

"You chose to protect the Kurosaki's over strangers. Would you really change that decision?"

"No."

"Exactly. Let strangers handle their own problems, you worry about the ones you love."

"I do. I'm leaving. Can you help me?"

"What?"

"I'm leaving Karakura, leaving everything before Aizen ever decides he wants to use me. Then they'll be safe."

Renji sighed and watched him.

"I ran, so you want to do the same?"

"You're the one who warned me."

"I did." He raised a hand to scratch back of his neck in thought. "Maybe you're right. Ichigo will kill me."

"Then don't tell him. Don't let them look for me."

Renji sighed long. "Fine. Give me a couple of days to make some arrangements, I'll make you disappear."

"I have cash."

"This one is on the house, for Ichigo's sake. And here." He stepped back into the room and came out with a small hand gun. "You should take this with you when you go, but you can take it now if you want."

Grimmjow stared at it for a long moment then looked back to Renji.

"Not to their house, not with the girls there. Besides, you said if he comes for me, I just have to do what he says."

"True." Renji dropped his hand. "Then I'll give you a call in a couple of days, okay?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

Grimmjow walked home slowly. He'd been gone for a while. He knew Isshin would be worried. He had rushed out without taking his phone, he couldn't call to set his mind at rest. When he got home, it must have been close to midnight. He came in quietly, even though he knew Isshin would still be up.

He hung his coat up and walked into the kitchen where he was waiting.

"So did you find them?" Isshin asked, his voice tense, holding back anger.

"No. Well, yes, but someone beat me there. They won't mess with Ichigo again."

Isshin was suddenly on his feet, gripping Grimmjow by the shoulders, anger rolling off of him. This was way worse than when he thought Grimmjow had gotten drunk on purpose.

"I can't believe you did that, Grimmjow. You saw what they did to Ichigo. He's healthy, he's strong and he had Chad with him. You went off there on your own, your back could have triggered, they could have killed you! I thought after everything that happened you wouldn't be in a rush to throw yourself in that situation again."

Grimmjow's eyes went wide and he shoved Isshin from him. "You didn't seriously just make that comparison." He stormed out of the kitchen but Isshin didn't back down.

"Don't walk away, Grimmjow. Why shouldn't I make comparisons? Did you even think about what you were doing before you threw yourself into a volatile situation? Did you consider how long you've struggled to heal, to get back control over the basic things in your life? Did you think about what you'd put this family through if something happened to you again?"

Grimmjow stopped moving at these last words. He was at the stairs, hand on the railing, and he just stood there with his back to Isshin. The Doctor was slowly calming down, regaining his breath and composure.

"I know I've put you're family through alot. Too much." The teen finally spoke.

"Grimmjow that's not what I meant and you know it. How many times do I have to tell you that you are a part of this family too?"

Grimmjow turn back to his would-be father. "It would be better for all of you if I wasn't."

"It would be better for us all if Aizen didn't exist, it has nothing to do with you. But promise me you won't do something stupid like that again."

Grimmjow nodded, "I won't. I'm sorry." Isshin sighed, relieved. "How is Ichigo?"

"He's asleep. So someone else beat you to the punch? What did you mean by that?"

"Ichigo has alot of friends."

Isshin nodded. Grimmjow didn't know if he would guess who exactly did it but he supposed it didn't really matter.

"I just hope this is the end of it. This family could use a break."

"Agreed. Goodnight, Isshin."

"Night, Grimm."

* * *

"Everything is set." the voice on the other side of the phone said.

"Okay, when can I meet you?"

"Now. I'm just down the street at Rukia's."

"Alright." It was two days since he met with Renji. Ichigo was on the couch, resting and watching a Saturday afternoon movie with the girls, Isshin in the kitchen reading the paper and drinking a coffee.

"I'm going out for a walk." Grimmjow said off offhandedly, pulling his coat of the hook. Isshin glanced up at him but didn't argue.

"Alright."

Rukia didn't live far, just a block down. Grimmjow had known of her most his life, but never gotten to know her like Ichigo had. He hadn't really gotten to know many people. The Kuchki estate was stepped back from the street, the driveway was practically it's own road, leading out of the subdivision and down toward the river where the mansion rose up at the water's edge. It was good five minute walk from the main road, but Renji met him part way down the drive with a bag in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

"Got everything you need." Renji pulled the bag open and started going through the contents. "New ID, new passport if you decide you need it. And this," He pulled out the gun. "Last resort, understand? And if you're ever in doubt, pitch it, it will bring way too much attention to you if you're caught with it. And here," He handed him a ticket, "it's a long bus ride, but this was where I was headed before I decided to stop in Karakura.

Grimmjow read the name. It was a coastal city, a ten hour bus ride at least. "Supposed to be nice enough, find a job, get a place, start over. Maybe I'll see you there some day."

"Thank you, Renji. I really mean it."

"Don't get a cell phone, don't make a paper trail, at least not for a while. Get paid in cash, pay rent in cash got it?"

"Got it."

"And here." He pulled his pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and dropped them in the bag too. "It's going to be a bit stressful at first, you might need them."

"Thanks."

"Good luck." There really wasn't much more to say. Grimmjow took the bag and shook his hand before working his way back to the house. He got inside and up the stairs as fast as possible so no one would see the bag or ask questions. He would wait until dark and everyone was sleeping and then leave. He repacked his duffel with these new supplies and pushed it under his bed again and returned back downstairs to spend one last night with the family.

* * *

Karin and Yuzu each gave Ichigo a gentle hug before going upstairs. They were worried about him even if they had seen him beat up before. Grimmjow watched them go up the stairs, knowing it was for the last time. He turned back to Ichigo.

"You need help getting up the stairs?"

"No, man, I'm not tired yet. Dad and I are going to watch that new horror movie, you want to join us?"

"Sure, I'll be back down in a sec." He left Ichigo on the couch and moved upstairs just in time to say good night to the girls. He couldn't help himself, he had just needed to have some sort of good bye with them. He sighed when he shut their door and turned back to the stairs.

He didn't make it a step before he heard the front door bang open and a loud voice warning Ichigo not to move.

Grimmjow felt his whole body go cold, a feeling in his gut he knew all too well now. The door beside him opened again and his hand shot out to cover Karin's mouth before she spoke. Yuzu hovered behind her and both their eyes went wide when they heard continued shouting, including Isshin's coming in from the clinic. There was some banging of chairs and thuds, but Grimmjow didn't wait to hear more, he took Karin's hand and pulled her and Yuzu back down the hall to his room.

"Grimmjow..." Yuzu began in fear but he silenced her with finger to his lips. Karin was terrified, but she had something more fierce in her that kept her calm, and she carefully moved to the window to check outside.

"There are men in our yard." she whispered and backed away. Grimmjow had shut and locked the door and was digging under the bed for his bag.

"Get down." He whispered and Karin moved back to her twin and got her to the floor.

"What are you doing?" the dark haired girl hissed, seeing him riffle through his clothes until his hand closed over the cold barrel he sought. He pulled out the gun and she gasped.

"Hide under my bed," He told them as he flicked the safety off and pointed to the door. But they could already hear footsteps outside and the girls froze. "Now!" Karin snapped back and pulled her sister under with her, pushing the duffel before them and using the skewed bedspread to hide them as best she could, but she could still see Grimmjow, stiff, gun raised, hands shaking.

All three of them held their breaths as the handle turned. When it met resistance, Grimmjow knew they were found.

"Grimmjow..." He heard the scared cry behind him before the door broke inward. The moment it swung far enough, he fired. There was a scream, and the dull thud of dead weight hitting carpet. Several long seconds passed but Grimmjow wasn't moving, unable to believe what was happening, what he'd just done. But when he caught the twitch of movement in the man he'd shot, everything kicked back in and he knew he couldn't stop now.

There was barely a thought in his head when took the man's gun and put in the back of his pants and then punched him hard in the side of the head. It was enough to put him out, he'd already been half way there, blood coated his left arm. When he heard the footsteps on the stairs, Grimmjow abandoned this man for the several others headed his way, shut his eyes and squeezed the trigger before they even got to the top.

Those trying to get up to him stopped and back down out of his range. Opening his eyes again and finding himself still alone int he hallway, he stood unsure of what to do. He didn't want to leave the girls, but he couldn't stay here forever, they'd attack him and he'd just end up putting them in more danger of getting shot. So he moved a few paces toward the stairs, trying to glimpse something of the living room.

"Grimmjow," the terribly icy voice caused every muscle in him to stiffen. "I think you know who it is. If you don't want to cause any more trouble for this family, you'll drop your gun and come downstairs right now."

"Aizen," the name came out so strained, rage and terror constricting the muscles in this throat.

"Who else?" the arrogant voice floated up to him. "Now, are you coming down? Or do I need to remind you what I can do with young Ichigo here?"

"No, don't." He moved forward and saw the man he despised most in this world at the bottom of the stairs. But he didn't drop his gun. He inched forward until he was on the top step.

"That's it," Aizen coaxed. He didn't have a weapon himself, but stared confidently up at Grimmjow, as if he knew every thought going through the boy's head.

Grimmjow came down a few more steps and now he could see everything. Ichigo was on his feet, hands yanked behind his back, his father in a similar position just a few feet away. Grimmjow stopped, gun trained on Aizen.

"Let them go."

He could see the terror, the pain, in both their faces. He could see shock and confusion about the gun he held.

"No, Grimmjow, you drop that gun before someone really gets hurt."

"No. I drop this gun and you can do whatever you want."

"Oh Grimmjow, I can always do whatever I want." He barely nodded and a shot sounded. Grimmjow felt an electric shock go through is his body when Ichigo dropped with a scream. Isshin began struggling, yelling, blood poured down Ichigo's arm and the man standing over him pointed the gun at the back of his head.

"Stop." Grimmjow cried, and lowered the gun. "Please, stop."

"Get down here." He followed without hesitation now. Another man stepped forward to take his guns. "Good." Aizen hissed. "Get the girls."

"NO!" Grimmjow made to grab the man but he was struck in the back, exactly on those ruined nerves and he dropped like a stone, white light stealing his vision for several seconds. A foot came down to rest on the spot and he gasped out again, breathing in the must of the carpet. He wasn't far from Ichigo, he could see the beads of sweat on the boy's forehead, the creases of pain, but someone had him pinned too and he was likewise helpless when the two girls were drug down the stairs in hysterics. Their cries became even more desperate when they saw Ichigo bleeding. Behind them, the man Grimmjow had shot limped down. He grabbed his gun back from the man with the girls and aimed it at Grimmjow.

"No." Aizen intervened. The man pinning Grimmjow eased up, he did his best to sit up but the direct hit to his back made his muscles spasm and he knew he probably couldn't walk so he just sat, leaning heavily to one side and looked up to the hollow king with utter loathing in his eyes.

"What do you want with me?" His voice was near breaking. The girls were crying in the man's grasp, Isshin was shouting behind the hand over his face. Grimmjow saw the bruises on his cheek, the cut on his forehead. He'd fought, but there were simply too many of them. But the answer he got when he turned back to Aizen was more devastating than anything he could have anticipated.

"Oh Grimmjow, whoever said I wanted you?"

Aizen smiled wickedly and his eyes came to rest on Isshin. "I lost a vital member of my staff last night, my doctor. It really isn't an easy thing, to find someone who went to all the trouble of getting such extensive training and then be willing to join an organization such as my own. But then I remembered Grimmjow here had been taken in by a doctor. Running this clinic all by himself, very skilled, but not someone people would really notice missing if we spread word he'd gotten a job offer elsewhere. And not only that, but someone who was already familiar with the consequences of getting on my wrong side. So I thought I'd pop by, and see what sort of offer I could make him."

Isshin's eyes were wide, the hand was removed from his face and he just stood there gasping.

"So, here's my offer. Your family is still breathing right now. Come with me, and I will make sure it stays that way."

Isshin scanned over each of his children, but still no words came to him.

"Listen," Aizen continued. "You do a good job and your children will be set for life. I repay good work, Dr. Kurosaki. You come with me, and I will pay you generously. I will send them all to university, given them a good life. I will keep them safe for you." He looked to the twins. "Be good girls and go with this nice man and pack your daddy a bag, alright?"

Karin looked between Aizen and her father and after he nodded, she took her sister's hand and went upstairs with one of the men. The man holding Isshin let him go and Aizen stocked forward.

"You will come with me, unless you really are willing to watch me murder those two sweet little girls right before your eyes." He glanced back at Grimmjow. "You know what I'm capable of doing. You come with me and I will hold true to my word. They will be provided for, they will be protected. I will keep a close watch over them. But if some day, you decide to try to escape, or maybe slip up in surgery, I will start with Yuzu."

"Stop." Isshin finally spoke. "I get it."

"Good." Aizen put out his hand

"Dad..." Ichigo watched in horror as he father straightened his coat and took the hand of the monster before him. They shook on their deal and the girls came back downstairs with the man, a bag in his hand.

"It's all settled, we're leaving." Aizen announced. The men began to file out. Isshin looked down at his family. "Say good bye to them."

The girls were allowed to run to their father. He held them tight. Aizen took a gun from one of his men and Grimmjow realized it was the one Renji had given him.

"You know, this is mine." He said to Grimmjow as Isshin and the girls moved to Ichigo and he whispered out instructions to his son on how to treat the gunshot wound mixed in with tears and words of love and farewell. "Funny it should find its way back to me. The man who gave it to you, he must have really pissed off some of his customer- if it wasn't for them I never would have found out who he was. I wouldn't bother trying to get help from Mr. Abarai again, Grimmjow."

He returned the gun to his subordinate and turned back to Isshin. "Time to go."

The doctor rose from his children. His eyes fell to Grimmjow.

"Isshin, I'm sorry." Was all he could find to say.

The doctor put a hand on his head. "It's not your fault." And then someone pulled him away and they were out the door. It slammed shut. Engines roared outside. Grimmjow remained where he sat, staring at the cracked door, until the cries of the girls brought him back and Ichigo's head hit the carpet as he lost consciousness.

* * *

**_There you go, the drama continues! Thanks for the reviews!_**

**_Riza_**


	8. Chapter 8

Grimmjow wasn't able to stand up for a long time after the strike to his back, so he and the girls had had to help Ichigo from the floor. Honestly, Grimmjow was the least help, he covered the wound and followed the instructions Karin and Yuzu gave him. As traumatized as they were, they seemed able to focus on this one task.

Hot water landed beside him, he washed away the blood as per instruction while Karin returned from the clinic with what she needed. Grimmjow saw with relief it was a flesh wound in Ichigo's arm. That didn't mean Ichigo hadn't lost alot of blood or that he still couldn't go into shock- but it did mean there was no bone damage and no bullet had to be dug out.

Even if her hands shook the whole time and her breath was ragged with barely held-back tears, Karin cleanly stitched up her brother's wound. Her sharp dark eyes took him in for several long seconds, and then she let the tools drop from her fingers and just lay down next to her brother where she could feel the rhythmic pulse of his breath on her, reassuring her he was still alive. Yuzu did the same, curling against her sister, and since he could not move and could do nothing more too help, Grimmjow joined them, easing one arm across all three.

At some point they all fell asleep like that.

* * *

"What are you doing? Who are you?" Grimmjow snapped to at the frightened voice next to him. It was barely dawn but enough light filtered in for him to see someone kneeling over Ichigo and lifting him up.

He jumped to his feet but a sharp twinge sent him back to his knee. Karin was already in a fighting stance and Yuzu had one arm under Grimmjow to help him back to his feet. But the intruder just set Ichigo on the couch and checked him over.

"You did a good job." He said, looking at the three. "He looks like he'll be fine."

"Who the Hell are you?" Grimmjow asked, pulling Karin back behind him but his attention was jerked away by the harsh banging of a hammer at the door.

"We're Aizen's people of course. He promised the doctor he would take care of his family, and he always keep his promises." There was the sound of a drill and Grimmjow realized someone was repairing the front door where it had been kicked in.

"Have a seat." The man before him instructed and Grimmjow relented, sitting on the end of the couch, the girls sticking close to him. "I left cash on the table. Enough for a month, I should think. Don't forget to pay the bills. The girls will have to go to school tomorrow, to avoid suspicion, and Icigo too, when he's better. And here's the letter offering Isshin a position at Mercry Genneral in Central Tokyo. And his contact details, if anyone asks."

"We can call dad?" Yuzu cut in.

"No, sweetheart, but if any adults get suspicious, have them call this number and a doctor from Mercy General will assure them your father is a busy man with many patients to attend to and his children are well taken care of by their older brothers."

Grimmjow's grip around the girls tightened. He wanted to ask this man so many questions, but not in front of them.

"All done." Someone said at the door.

"Alright." The man before them called back and gave Grimmjow one last thing. "If you have an emergency, you can contact me. I'm Stark, myself or someone else will be checking in on you regularly."

"So that's it?" Grimmjow finally asked. "This is our lives now?"

"You're home free, kid. Aizen will give you the full ride, as long as Daddy does his job."

Yuzu whimpered. Karin looked like she was about to pounce on this man but Grimmjow just nodded.

"Go."

The man did. Grimmjow followed them to the door and checked it over. He locked the deadbolt, even though he knew they could just break through it again, and then he turned back to the couch. Though his back was still throbbing, he got his arms under Ichigo and lifted him up. It was a strain, but he put one foot ahead of the other and took him to the master bedroom.

When Grimmjow pushed through the door and saw the neatly made bed, the tie thrown over the dresser at the end of the work day, he remembered Isshin's story about his wife and not wanting to disturb the last thing she'd touched, how he had slept on the couch for months just to preserve that place. But nothing in Grimmjow hesitated to place Ichigo on that bed, and rumpled the sheets.

Because Isshin wasn't dead.

The girls crawled into the bed with their brother and Grimmjow shut the bedroom door. He knew nothing could stop Aizen from reaching them, but somehow by having them all within these four walls he felt a little more in control.

"Why Dad?" Yuzu said from the sheets. Karin just hugged her but Renji's words pounded into Grimmjow's head.

_"He never really finishes with someone once he gets started. Doesn't matter what put you on his radar, you become part of his game. Sometimes, who knows when, a situation will arise, and for one reason or another, it will be your name that pops into his head." _

Renji had been right, but it wasn't Grimmjow who'd ended up popping in to the monster's head. It had been the man who'd taken him in, given him a new life. The man he'd intended to run away from last night to protect him. But the truth was Grimmjow had put the Kurosaki's in danger the moment he'd entered this house. There was no taking that back now. But neither was he going to let Ichigo, Karin and Yuzu lose their father to that monster as well. He wasn't sure how, but he would get Isshin back, even if it killed him.

A knock at the front door startled him and the girls each looked up from where they were huddled together.

"Stay here." Grimmjow said.

"Don't go." He looked back at them. How could explain what was happening to them? How could he possibly comfort them or make them okay? The knocking became more frantic and Grimmjow moved to the door.

"I know it's scary, but we are safe, alright? If anyone was trying to hurt us they wouldn't be knocking on the door."

Karin nodded, he left and shut the door behind him. Despite his words, however, he approached the front door with caution. When he saw who it was through the spy hole, however, he opened it.

"Where's Ichigo?" Rukia demanded, almost in tears.

"He's sleeping." Grimmjow answered as calmly as he could. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Grimmjow knew. Aizen had practically admitted to murdering Renji himself, but Grimmjow wasn't about to tell this girl any of that. Still, he couldn't help the guilt when he saw a tear slip over her lashes.

"Something is clearly wrong, Rukia, what is it?"

"Renji's missing." She sobbed out, a hand shooting up to wipe away the tears. "His place was wrecked, we couldn't find any sign of him."

"We?"

"My brother. He doesn't really like Renji but he's been searching everywhere for him with me."

"Have you called the police?"

She nodded.

"Then there's still hope." He said as steadily as he could.

"You didn't see the state of his place...Grimmjow, there was blood. And no one has listened to me! No one believes me!"

"Believes what?"

"It has to be those bastards at the bridge. Renji wouldn't say but I know he talked to them, maybe even fought with them after they beat up Ichigo. They must have gone to his place to get revenge."

Her watery eyes turned narrow, and her small fist clenched tightly. Grimmjow knew her thoughts before she spoke.

"If no one is going to listen, I'll find out for myself."

"NO!" Grimmjow had his hands over her shoulders and was dragging her inside before he realized what he was doing. She looked up at him startled, taking in his hair unkempt, the clothes he'd been wearing for two days, rumpled and askew.

"Grimmjow, what's wrong?"

He knew he'd made a mistake, she was mere steps away from seeing the blood stain on the carpet.

"Nothing."

"No, tell me, what's wrong?"

Her fierce eyes stared up into his own and he took a breath. His next words were so painful he could barely speak them, because they were an admittance of defeat to that cold bastard.

"Isshin got a job in Central Tokyo..." he began the lie, hardly believing he was telling her this while she was mourning a boyfriend who'd gotten himself killed helping him and Ichigo. "He left yesterday and the girls were up crying almost the entire night. I didn't get much sleep."

"Isshin left?"

"Yeah. I mean, Ichigo wants to finish high school here, and Isshin didn't want to uproot the girls. Plus they've got me here to help out."

She was too shocked and upset to give it much more thought, and that was it. She accepted it, the lie was established, he was playing right into Aizen's game, but like the underground king had assured him, he had no choice.

"Ichigo's still not feeling too well, why don't I walk you home?"

"No, Grimmjow, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come."

But as much as he didn't want her to see the blood he also didn't want her to walk out that door and do what he knew she planned, so he didn't relax his grip.

"Don't do it, Rukia. Don't go there."

"I have to get answers. Renji is in trouble."

"It won't do any good."

"YES IT WILL! It will if they know where he is or what happened!"

She wrenched out of his grasp.

"Rukia."

"I'm sorry Grimmjow."

She had her hand on the door knob. Grimmjow had so many other things to worry about and he should just let her deal with her own problems, but he couldn't help it, he felt terrible about Renji. He owed him, so he couldn't just let her throw herself into a dangerous situation and he said the only thing he could think of,

"I'll go with you. Just wait until later."

"Why would you help me?"

"Because if they did do something to Renji, it's because he was sticking up for Ichigo, so I owe him."

She looked him over. "Fine. I'll meet you here at dark."

She slipped out the door. Grimmjow closed it shut behind her, feeling the utter exhaustion in his body. This was not good.

He went to the living room. First he moved the couch over the blood stain, then he sat down heavily.

"Why did you tell her that?"

He looked up. Karin was on the bottom step.

"I couldn't let her go by herself. It's complicated." He didn't want to tell her Renji was probably dead. He was pretty sure Aizen's words hadn't reached any of the Kurosaki's when Isshin had been giving his goodbyes.

"But...aren't they watching us? They won't want you to go causing trouble and if you do what they don't want-"

"Shh." He stood up and came to her side just as the tears spilled over. It was a struggle, but he managed to kneel before her and hold her close. "I won't do anything to endanger any of you, okay? We stick together. You are my priority, but I don't want Rukia getting hurt. That's why I'm going to call her brother and tell him what she plans. He'll stop her, everyone will be safe."

"Really?"

"Yes, Karin, I promise, now let's go back upstairs."

* * *

He hadn't intended to shut his eyes when he sat in Isshin's easy chair, Karin still in his arms. Yuzu was clinging to Ichigo in the bed, he was still asleep. Karin cried herself out in Girmmjow's arms and fell asleep there. He didn't realize he had also succumbed to exhaustion until he felt his skin burning in the bright afternoon sun that had crept around and cast down on the sensitive interlacing scars that was the right side of his face.

When he blinked back to wakefulness he saw Ichigo was conscious. He too, was pinned by his sister, she had wormed her way over his chest in her sleep. For a long time they kept the silence, listening to the even breathing of the girls, just watching one another, trying to assess how each was coping, how they would proceed.

Finally, Karin opened her eyes and broke the quiet. She saw Ichigo was awake and jumped from Grimmjow's lap to race over to him, waking her sister in the process. They both hugged him and there were a few more tears shed. Grimmjow went downstairs to phone Byakua. He didn't know the man personally, but he held true to his reputation: short winded, to the point. He thanked Grimmjow for calling and hung up. He had done all he could there and when he came up the stairs he met the girls in the hall.

"We're going to make something to eat." Yuzu explained.

"I could order something," Grimmjow offered.

"It's okay, we want to do something." He nodded and left them to the kitchen. As much as he didn't want to let them out of his sight, there really was no reason to be afraid now. He knew Isshin would never endanger them, and he knew they would be watched very closely in these first few days, to make sure an accurate cover was established. So with many eyes on them, they were probably safer than they'd ever been.

But he could see at once none of this would come as a comfort to the teen in the bed trying to right himself and pull off the covers.

"Ichigo," Grimmjow reached out a hand to stop him but Ichigo flinched away. Eveything in Grimmjow turned cold when Ichigo stopped moving, his face torn in pain and anger. Up until now he had been concentrating on their survival and safety, but now he had to face the reality that all of this had happened because of him.

"I know what I've done to this family, Ichigo," he began, voice as steady as he could make it, "And I'm so sorry. I don't know what else I can say."

For a long time Ichigo just stared at the sheets and Grimmjow knew he was furious. He couldn't blame him, not even a little bit, but he also couldn't help feeling like he was starting to drown as the silence continued and his fears to Ichigo's reaction grew.

"He took my father." The eldest Kurosaki finally spoke.  
"I know."

"Because of your father." Grimmjow tensed as Ichigo's voice grew stronger, harsher. "Because of his problems and his irresponsibility my dad is Sosuke Aizen's prisoner. And so are my sisters for all intents and purposes, and so am I and we all will be for the rest of our lives but we can't even be together! Tell me Grimmjow, what are the chances I will ever see him again?"

"Ichigo...I-"

"He's gone! And every part of me wants to fight to get him back, but if I do, I'll be putting Karin and Yuzu in danger."

"I know."

"I can't forgive what's happened Grimmjow. I can't, I'm sorry."

"So do you want me to go?"

Ichigo's eyes shot up to his. "Well, that was your plan all along, right? That's why you had that gun? Where did you get it? Why did you think you needed it? Did you know this was going to happen?"

"No, Ichigo. I swear. Renji...he warned me that Aizen might come after me again. He was helping me leave. I was doing it because I thought it would keep you safe."

"Yeah, and look at how that turned out."

"I know."

"I can't believe you were going to go, after everything dad said. He would have gone with you, we all would have gone together, if you'd just said, maybe we would have, maybe we'd all be together right now!"  
He slammed his fist into the sheets. Grimmjow just watched him for a long time, shaking, face and body still covered in yellowing bruises, arm bandaged up, eyes glistening. "What is it going to take for you to understand we're family? We don't abandon one another!"

The blue haired teen balked at this. He didn't expect or understand these words on the heels of such anger.

"Dammit, Grimmjow, it's not you I blame. None of this was every your fault, but I can't forgive your father for bringing this all down on you first, and now us. I know he's dead, I know you loved him, but I hate him for causing all of this, and right now I can't see past it. And right now I can't imagine what would be happening to the three of us if you had left and they had come and taken dad away." A tear got past his defences. Grimmjow just stood stunned, listening to Ichigo's speech. "I just need you to be honest with me and I needed to be honest with you. I needed you to know how I feel, and I need you to tell me you won't disappear, that you're committed to Karin and Yuzu and this family."

"I am." The words came out without thinking and he sat on the side of the bed, locking eyes with Ichigo. "I promise I will do anything to protect them. And I promise that if it's possible, if there is a way, I'll bring your father back."

"No Grimmjow," Ichigo gripped his arm, "If there really is a way, I will do whatever it takes, Grimmjow. I will pull the fucking trigger if I ever see Aizen again. And I trust you will to. So this is it. You and I are going to save this family. No matter what it takes."

Grimmjow was overwhelmed by those eyes. He'd seen them often, helping him, empathizing, sympathizing, Ichigo had been amazingly strong for him when he'd needed help, but this was a whole different sort of strength: fierce, wild, untamed and untempered. And on the receiving end of it, even if Grimmjow was the bigger of the two teens, the one to have seen and endured the most- he felt weak and small. This was a whole new Ichigo who's hand he took in a firm grasp.

"You and I, Ichigo. I promise." Because, looking in those eyes, he couldn't help but actually believe that nothing in the world could stop them.

* * *

_**And so the fight begins! Thanks for the reviews, hopefully next update will be faster.**_

_**Riza**_


	9. Chapter 9

It was hard, there was no getting around that. Ichigo's body still needed time to heal, the girls were forced to go to school and carry out a lie, but the new resolve between the boys made it bearable, because deep down they believed they would fix things.

Grimmjow walked the girls to school on Monday and was barely able to let them out of his sight even when they were safely in the confines of the school. His logic about their situation told him the girls would be perfectly safe, but his emotions weren't listening. And he was there the moment the bell rang to walk them back home. He did, however, encounter an unwanted guest. She must have seen him walk by the first time, she practically ambushed him at the mouth of her driveway.

"You bastard!" She yelled before she spotted the girls. Karin knew at once what was wrong but Yuzu did not and flinched away. Rukia relaxed, but the anger in her eyes didn't fade. "Why did you lie? If you were too pansy to go with me, then you should have just said."

He knew she was hurting, but he couldn't help tense in anger.

"Shut up, Rukia, I did what I had to to stop you making a stupid decision. You would have just gotten hurt and distracted the police from finding Renji!"

Her eyes widened and he saw the hurt. She was stunned into silence long enough for them to hear Byakuya calling after her.

"I hate you." she whispered and turned back before her brother reached them. Grimmjow stared after her and sighed.

"Come on." Karin took his hand, and the three walked back home.

* * *

Ichigo was feeling better, but it was best to keep him home until his arm was a little more mobile so no one asked questions, although they were lucky in a way because they had the beating he'd taken as a perfect cover up. And they'd needed to use it, since word spread of Isshin leaving, they'd had a number of visitors checking on them. Orihime brought them a ton of bread from where she worked, and Chad had stopped by to check if there was anything they needed not to mention a very loud Keigo and crew crashing in on them with pizza and a DVD one day after school.

Everyone bought the story, well, they accepted it at least. There was no hiding the fact that Ichigo was drawn with fatigue and stress, that he was short with them and quick to see them go, but no questioned it and that was good.

When they were alone, the boys used that time to strategize. Grimmjow had to tell Ichigo about Renji, it was unavoidable. He was understandably upset, but Grimmjow emphasized that he was still only missing, there was no body. And he told him about Rukia, which made it all worse.

"You know you can't tell her." Grimmjow said when he read Ichigo's thoughts in his furrowed brow.

Yes, Ichigo had considered it, but they had made their pact, they had their priorities and Grimmjow knew at once there was no danger when those brown eyes met his.

"Of course not."

"Good." They discussed options, but quickly found that there was very little open to them.

The best they could come up with was intelligence. They really couldn't do anything until they knew their enemy better. Maybe then they _would_ discover some weaknesses. Until then, they were sitting ducks.

One thing they decided immediately was to save as much of the money they were given as possible. Because the most optimistic reality they faced, was running away and starting over. If they ever did have the miracle of rescuing Isshin, Aizen would still come after them to get his vengeance, so they had to be ready.

Another asset was that Grimmjow already had his fake ID. They couldn't be sure it wasn't compromised if Aizen's people got to Renji, but it was all they had other than their own names and faces if it came down to it.

Finally, they had to figure out where Isshin was being kept and if he ever got sent out with the men. If the last doctor had gotten killed, it was likely that Aizen did send him on missions. But then again, if that was how the last one had been killed, maybe Aizen would keep him closer this time. Hopefully they would uncover something in their research. What burned Grimmjow to no end was the fact that he'd been to Aizen's facility, but since they'd drugged him on the way there, and he'd been drunk on the way back, he couldn't remember any detail regarding the trip.

What they did know, and what everyone in Karakura knew, was where Aizen lived. He was no common crook, he was a king pin, and he lived in an estate at the far end of Karaura that made the Kuchiki mansion look like a cottage. There was absolutely no way to get to him there, it was heavily fenced, guarded and surveyed. But it was start at least.

"I'll go through the newspaper archives at school." Ichigo said, leaning back on the couch where they sat side by side with the tv on loud. They didn't know if they were just being paranoid, but they didn't want to risk being overheard if someone was watching or listening in. "Other than that, I don't know what we can do that won't draw attention."

"I know." Grimmjow grumbled. "I'm home here all day, but I can't do anything productive with my time." His gaze rolled to the side and he found himself staring out the windows at his old house. "Dad was dealing with him. I never even knew. I wonder if there is anything at the house we could use."

"Like what?"

"Who knows, but I should go over there, clean things up a bit if nothing else."

"Grimmjow, you shouldn't go over there by yourself."

"I'm not dragging you over there. I'll be fine. I've got nothing else to do during the day anyway."

"What about your therapy, and physio?"

Grimmjow looked at him surprised.

"Grimmjow, if the girls are expected to go to school, then you should be doing what you would normally too. When is your next appointment?"

"Um, tomorrow I think."

"Then you have to go. And I'll go back to school too, okay?"

"Yeah, I guess."

Soon it was time to pick up the girls and the discussion ended.

That night, after the three had fallen asleep in their father's bed as they had the last few nights, Grimmjow stood in his bedroom window staring across the street at the empty house. He knew he should be longing for Isshin right now. He knew he should feel like Ichigo did about him. But right now, he just wanted his father.

* * *

Grimmjow dropped the girls and Ichigo off at school and continued on to the hospital. He didn't have his driver's licence- well, now he had the fake id- but he knew his way around a car. He was driving Isshin's since it was in better condition than his father's that had sat unused in the drive for months. He didn't know what to do with it, with the house, with any of it.

That was where the conversation ended up with the therapist. He couldn't begin to explain why he was suddenly so agitated, why things were worse than the last session. How was he supposed to get anything out of it when he had to lie to her? She put his added stress down to Ichigo getting beat up and Isshin leaving- a topic on which she didn't hide her disapproval. He got mad all over again when he saw she was annoyed with Isshin for leaving him like this. He ended up leaving by slamming the door and fuming his way down the hall until he found one a little quieter where he could just sit and clear his head for a few minutes.

But instead of peace, he heard raised voices from one of the private rooms.

"Mr. Ishida please!" the voice was enraged, but desperate. He'd heard it only two days earlier cursing at him.

"Ms. Kuchki I suggest you drop the matter and return to school."

"I can't let this go."

"My son may tolerate you but I have no reason to do so myself."

"How can you say that!"

"Excuse me." The door swung open, Grimmjow saw the white haired Director of the hospital stalk off. A moment later, Rukia emerged from the room, fighting tears. Grimmjow thought she was going to walk away but then she froze and her eyes locked on him.

"What are _you _doing here?"

"I had an appointment. What are you up to fighting with the Ryuken Ishida?"

"None of your business."

"Is this about Renji?"

"What do you care? You set me up last time, I won't give you the chance to do it again."

She started to walk away, he followed a few paces and then stopped. What could he say to make it better? What difference did it really make if she hated him? But still, he knew if she dug too deep she could set off Aizen's radar and get herself in trouble, and he couldn't stand by and watch that happen.

"Rukia, I'm sorry." She paused but didn't turn back to look at him. "I wanted to go with you, but after you left, I knew I wasn't strong enough, not after...everything. And now that Isshin is gone, the girls really need me. I couldn't go out there and put us both in danger when they need me right now. And I knew you would still go if I said I couldn't. All I wanted to do was stop something bad happening."

Her small shoulders slumped. He knew her enough to know she would understand his priorities.

"Fine." she finally turned. "I get it."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"I have to do whatever I can."

"Why Uryu's father? What does he know?"

"More than you might think. More than my brother will tell me."

And then it all snapped into place for Grimmjow. They had all been too young to actually remember it happening, but nearly fifteen years ago, there had been a function, the annual charity benefit, all the wealthy of Karakura gathered for a night of dancing and drinking to raise funds.

Aizen had been there, he always was, it was no surprise. Everyone just accepted it. But something went wrong, somebody tried to kill him, there was a shoot out. Many people were killed. Uryu's mother, and Rukia's parents. Byakuya would have been barely a teen, at home, babysitting his new little sister. Uryu's father however, had been there in the thick of it, trying to save his own wife from bleeding out. Grimmjow looked at Rukia in a new light, considering her approach.

"Okay, I understand the connection you've made, but how does that help you?"

"Aizen has to be behind this. Renji didn't think I knew what he was up to but I did. Those assholes under the bridge ratted him out, as far as I can tell. Now I need to know what Aizen did. Is Renji really dead? Or does he have him somewhere?"

Her words hit Grimmjow hard. She'd already figured out enough to get her in serious trouble. She was too smart and too bold. But he had to swallow away these concerns and concentrate on what she was saying.

"I still don't understand what Ishida can do for you?"

"He hates Aizen more than anyone. My parents did too, but they died before they could do anything about it. Ishida is the last one left with the money, power and the will to oppose him."

"You're trying to tell me he's aiming to take down Aizen?"

"I don't think he's taken it that far, I just know he hates him more than anything and wants to undercut him whenever he can. I know he keeps tabs on him, undermines his business deals when he can. He's the only person I can think of who might have any information on Renji."

Or information on Isshin, was all Grimmjow could think. But he didn't say this aloud. "If he does that, why doesn't Aizen just have him killed?"

"Same reason he hasn't hurt my brother when they conflict in business deals. Because he operates on some sort of messed up principles and because he got our parents killed he won't hurt us, or Mr. Ishida. But only if we never push things too far."

"So Byakuya is the same?"

"I guess. He won't talk about it, but he bought a few businesses recently and I think the only reason he did was to keep Aizen from moving closer to our end of town."

"Businesses...you mean that Aizen would want to use as fronts?"

"I guess."

Grimmjow nodded. He couldn't believe this. If they could get their hands on a list of those businesses, one was surely going to be Aizen's base of operations, where he kept Isshin.

"Grimmjow, what is it?"

He realized he'd sort of spaced out and snapped back but another voice joined them.

"Oh Grimmjow, there you are," He turned and saw his therapist. "I was concerned and didn't want to leave things the way we did."

"I'll give you some privacy." Rukia gave him a sympathetic look, which he resented, but he stopped her.

"No, it's fine, I'll give you a lift." He turned back to the therapist. "Sorry doc, I'm better now. See you next week."

"Alright, thank you Grimmjow." She called after him as he and Rukia headed for the parking garage.

* * *

Rukia decided to go to school and see if she could ask Uryu for information. Grimmjow wanted to ask her not to, but he knew that her search was virtually his own and could only help them. Besides, he was prevented from acting so openly whereas she was seemingly protected. So he let it go and hoped Ichigo would forgive him when he told him.

When Grimmjow got home it wasn't even lunch time and he stood in the driveway between the two houses, not really wanting to spend the day sitting in either. But since Ichigo wasn't here, he had time to go to his own house without worrying the other.

For some reason it felt different this time. He didn't get that rush of sickness, that cold dread or even the fog of nostalgia. He just saw it all for what is was, an old home falling slowly into ruin. Untouched, broken, dirty.

He wondered if it was his medications, finally balanced out. Or if it was because Isshin was gone now, and his desire to save him eclipsed even the crippling memories of this place. It suddenly struck him that since they had all been sleeping together, the boys each on one side of the bed and the girls tucked in the middle- the only way they felt safe and would sleep, he hadn't had a single nightmare. It was strange. He didn't know how he should feel about it, in fact, he just felt nothing.

His day went quickly once he got started. He got some garbage bags and just started filling them. He realized Isshin must have dunged out the fridge that day he'd been over to get some things from his room. He was very thankful for that. Most anything that could rot had been chucked, though he still found a few unsavoury things in the cupboard. He boxed up anything that wasn't expired and chucked the rest.

Then he made he way to the clothes. He threw dirty laundry in a bag and set it aside to take back with him. He packed up clothes he still hadn't bothered to get. He boxed up his school books, somehow knowing he would never be going back now. He looked at the posters on his wall. They seemed childish now, like they belonged to someone else, so he just left them.

He went to his father's room. He remembered Isshin's words, about not wanting to touch his own room after his wife had passed. But this room held few good memories for Grimmjow. It was where he brought his dad after too many drinks. It was where he'd had to clean up his puke or check that he was still breathing. And it was always a mess as it was now. So he had no problem pulling it apart.

He didn't know what he was looking for. He just knew that the most likely place for a clue to Aizen was in here. He had to be going somewhere for those poker games. And more than that, he had to have a reason to have been invited in the first place. Yes, sober, his father was a player to contend with- but that was hardly a reason to get invited to the personal table of Sosuke Aizen and then get himself killed over a stupid debt. Grimmjow had tried to deny it, but his father had to have some connection to Aizen that he had yet to discover.

He put sheets and bedding in a bag to be washed. He dumped out drawers, pocketed unfinished packs of cigarettes. He threw out old bottles of liquor, and set aside one he'd found that was full. He started to dung out his father's closet when he realized hours had passed and it was time to meet the girls at school.

He explained everything to a very tired Ichigo that night. The orange haired teen was not sleeping properly and his arm was still giving him alot of pain. Grimmjow gave him one of his sleeping pills that night and after the whirlwind of conversation and a long day at school lying to everyone, he accepted it and passed out on the bed with the girls. Grimmjow lay on the edge of the bed until Karin and Yuzu were asleep and he knew it was safe to slip downstairs. He himself had stopped taking the pills, not wanting to be caught unawares if anything ever happened.

He woke up to Ichigo standing before him where he'd fallen asleep on the couch hours later. Glancing out the window he saw it was still dark, maybe an hour before the girls woke up.

"Do you sleep down here every night?" Ichigo asked. Grimmjow usually made it up to bed before the girls woke to give the illusion he was there all night. He wasn't sure if Ichigo had been awake enough to catch on.

"Not always. I just, had alot to think about."

"I know, I can't get back to sleep." he sat on the couch as well. "I kept thinking about what Rukia is doing and what we should do."

"Yeah." Just forty-eight hours ago they decided not to tell anyone and here they were both considering it. Rukia was their perfect gateway to information.

"If we don't tell her, and she keeps talking to us about it, we're going to get caught by Aizen's men." Grimmjow concluded. "If she knows, she can be more covert around us."

"True." Ichigo said. "But if we got caught-"

"We have to decide what risk we're willing to take, Ichigo. Right now, you have to weigh the risk of never seeing your dad again and those two girls growing up living like prisoners, against risking all our lives for the chance at getting your dad back. I'm not saying it's an easy choice, Ichigo, but this decision really has to be yours."

"Don't do this to me, Grimmjow. Don't put it all on me."

"I'm sorry, Ichigo, and I do appreciate that you have made me a part of your family, but this _is_ your family, one hundred percent, so you should be the one to make the decision."

"I already said I would do what I had to to get him back. I think this is our best shot at getting information without tipping Aizen off."

"Alright then. You can talk to her at school, it's not like it will be suspicious there."

"Okay." he took a breath. "This is good, we're doing something."

"Yes. I'm going back to my dad's today, see what I can find."

"I can help you if you wait until after school."

"No, I was fine yesterday."

"If you're sure." He got up and headed to the kitchen to make something to eat. "Karin has a soccer game after school, Yuzu and I are going."

"Okay, I'll meet you there."

* * *

Grimmjow sat on the lawn chair practically welded to the ground where it had sat for who knows how long and took a long drag on one of his found cigarettes. In his hands were photos he had never seen until today.

One was of his family. He hadn't even known that there had ever been a photo of all three of them. He, of course, was just a bundle of blankets, she was still in her johnny shirt at the hospital, and his father...he looked happier than Grimmjow had ever seen him in all his life.

He sat there staring at it for a long time, wondering why it had been hidden away and not kept on display, a one beautiful memory to cherish. The other photos were of his father even before he'd been born, surrounded by a bunch of other men, cigarettes lit, drinks in hand. They were young, about his age now, or just a little older, but covered in the grime and sweat of working in a factory.

He had never known his father as he was in the photos, healthy, strong, a hard worker. He had only known him as the unemployed drunk who survived on the compensation of his wife's death since she had been killed on the job. With the photo of the workers lined up outside the plant, was another picture of mostly the same men sat around a table, cards in hand, cigarettes and beer on the go. That must have been when his father started gambling.

He had stared at these photos a long time until he noticed the second familiar face. Younger, even more than his father, not hardened like it was now, but still handsome and untouched by the grime.

Aizen.

Grimmjow had been shocked, enraged, bewildered, until it started to make sense. Why shouldn't his dad and Aizen have worked together decades ago? It's not like the crime boss popped out of nowhere, was born with a silver hand gun up his ass. He had started off as anyone else, he'd gotten a job at the same plant as his dad, and they'd played poker with the same group of men. Somewhere along the line his ambitions turned greater, he'd turned into what he was now, but along the way he must have kept playing poker with those men, just enough that when the game got bigger, someone like his own father would get an invitation.

It would seem however, whatever sentimentality that had sent that invitation did nothing to soften his wrath for repayment.

When it all processed, and Grimmjow reasoned that there was no real reason to freak out or be mad, he just came outside to smoke.

But he still didn't understand why the family photo had been hidden away. He'd found the three photos folded into a pair of jeans that had been shoved to the back of the shelf above his father's clothes in his closet. It was almost like a child trying to hide a dirty secret.

He threw his stub on the ground and stomped on it. A twinge went through his back, reminding him of the price he'd paid for those poker games and he returned inside.

The stairs proved difficult, he must have be standing in an odd way while he'd been digging through the closet and lifting boxes. He cursed himself for still being so weak and stopped half way up the stairs. After a moment he was able to make it back to his father's room. There was more on that top shelf to uncover, he got back on the chair he had drug over and reached up. He was trying to be careful, but a second twinge made him nearly fall, dragging the contents of the shelf over the edge and spilling them all over the floor. He half fell off the chair and dropped to all fours, waiting for the pain to pass.

It was in this position that he saw through blurry eyes the crumpled photo half sticking out of a file folder. He could already see it had been torn apart and taped back together. Something in him just knew. He knew this was part of the guilt, the secret, he knew once he looked he could never take it back, but he also knew he had to. He reached out and pulled the file closer over the pile of clothes and other junk that had fallen down. And then he opened it.

She had been so beautiful in the photograph where she'd held him, even if she had no make up on, even if she had given birth only hours earlier. She had been strong and proud. Besides that photo, he only had a handful of others his father had kept in an album. One was her high school graduation, one was their wedding. Only a handful of pictures to paint his illustration of who his mother had been. And now this one was added to that collection, but it was very quickly ripping those happy smiles to shreds before his eyes.

There she was, sprawled on the ground, blouse ripped open, blood pooled around her head. Her eyes were wide, horrified. The picture was close, someone had been standing right over her, but it wasn't a police photograph, it didn't have any of the markers or measures they used. And the other thing he knew, the thing he had imagined since the day he'd been told, was that she had been crushed to death in an accident at the warehouse where she worked. But here she was, intact, dead, clearly killed by a blow to the head, not by an overturned forklift. He could see the bleed of ink and turned it over. Though distorted by the many rips and layers of tape, written in red ink across the back of the photograph in scrawling cursive,

"Consider your debts paid off. I suggest you pay more promptly next time, old friend. Sosuke Aizen."

There was another photo in the file. His stomach lurched when he saw it and he immediately turned it over trying to rid the image from his mind. But even as he stared at the back of it he could see the forklift laying on its side over her ruined body.

That bastard had killed her, and then mutilated her body. And why? For the exact same reason he'd maimed Grimmjow. Warren Jaggerjaques had gotten his wife killed by his old poker buddy. And then he'd gone and done it again, seventeen years later, but that time he got himself killed, and nearly his son. He had known what Aizen did and still he went back.

When Grimmjow started screaming he didn't know if it was for hatred for Aizen or hatred for his own father. The betrayal, the horror, the shame of it burned into his soul and he just let it out in the only way he could find to do it.

He collapsed gasping on the pile from the closet and as he took a breath he felt the vibrations in the floor and heard the footsteps. Something in him managed to kick back to life and he shoved the photos under the heaps of clothes. He tried to get up but the pain in his back flared and when the men burst in they found him half collapsed against the chair, gripping his back and letting out a cry of pain. It was dumb luck, really, or just fortunate timing, because he didn't even have to make up a lie, they put two and two together and someone shouted that he must have fallen off the chair and someone else was cursing as they tried to get him up.

He was confused. He knew these guys must have been watching him somewhere and come running when he started screaming. He knew he'd gotten lucky, but when their hands took hold of him so did blind rage at Aizen, his organization, these men.

"Get the Fuck off of me!" He screamed trying to shove them back, trying to get them off of him but the pain was only getting worse and the more he struggled the more he cried out and fell into their grasp.

"Shh, kid, calm down." He heard the voice of Stark but black spots were forming in his vision. "Get him on the bed." Stark ordered and he was wrestled face first onto the mattress he'd bared earlier. Someone got his arms up his back and he only gave a few more jerks before he knew he was done. He lay there panting, suddenly exhausted, mind still reeling and body in such intense pain that for some reason was not fading.

"Grimmjow, calm down, we're going to let go now, okay?" He didn't respond, his arms were let go and he just let them drop at his sides. "What happened, did you fall?"

He just nodded, he wasn't going to say anything to contradict their assumptions. "I was just trying to clean this place up a bit." He got out between breaths. "Something just happened when i reach up..." his words were cut off by his jaw clenching and eyes shutting. Stark pulled his shirt up and saw the horrible scar.

"You have nerve damage don't you?"

A nod of the head confirmed what he already knew from the file he'd been given on the kid.

"Has this happened before?"

Grimmjow was having trouble speaking past the pain, but his physical agony was getting beat out by his anger.

"I'll be fine just get out of my fucking house." He growled. He pulled his shirt back down and braced his arms under his body to get up. He got his left leg on the ground, his strong one, but nothing was working right and he landed hard on the floor. Someone stepped forward to get him back up but Stark stopped them.

"Leave him." Grimmjow looked up at him when bent down and started reaching for his pants pocket. Stark pulled Grimmjow's cell out and dialled three numbers. The teen could hardly speak now, but when he heard the emergency operator he understood.

"The ambulance will be here soon." Stark stood. Grimmjow swallowed, the room was getting fuzzy again but his muddled mind understood these men could not be seen with him.

He lay on the floor of his father's bedroom, torn into pieces by so much pain, but not that caused by damaged nerves.

* * *

**_Hello again, long chapter but I think it was worth it to get some things rolling! Hope you enjoyed and as always, thanks for the reviews!_**

**_Riza_**


	10. Chapter 10

So many emotions flashed in her large round eyes and Ichigo felt guilty for being the cause of her turmoil but Rukia didn't break. She had listened to his story, to his apologies for lying the past few days. But she breezed past any sense of betrayal and just sat down on the bleachers holding a hand over her mouth. Her calculating mind fit all the stories into place, she just nodded as if a jigsaw puzzle had just come together.

Someone scored a goal, parents cheered and Ichigo caught the voice of Yuzu congratulating Karin and clapping. Ichigo and Rukia sat sheltered in the middle of them all, their low voices lost in the cheers and chatter to everyone but themselves.

"That fool." She said finally and there was no question who she was referring to. "He should have known better."

"Rukia-"

"No, Ichigo, it's not your fault. If Renji hadn't sold them guns and made them so arrogant, they wouldn't have gotten to you in the first place. He was a fool to think he could get away with it all. But there was no body. And you said Aizen never openly admitted to Grimmjow that he killed him."

"As far as I know."

"Then I have to believe he's alive. Maybe he's with your father."

Ichigo couldn't really see why they would be kept together, but he just shrugged. "Could be. Rukia, we're being watched, we're essentially prisoners in our own lives. But we have to know where our father is."

"I understand. Leave it to me, Ichigo, I will do everything I can to help you."

He sighed in relief. "Thank you Rukia."

"Of course." She stood up.

"The game is over soon, I can walk you home."

"I'm going to see Uryu. Don't worry, I won't mention anything about you, but I think he's my best chance at getting at his father's intel. I know you two don't really get along, but for some reason Uryu has always been kind to me."

"Because he likes you, obviously."

"Don't be foolish, Ichigo. I'll talk to you in the morning, okay?"

"Yeah, see ya."

Rukia hopped off the stands and headed for the road. They weren't far from their street and she decided to go home and get something to eat before tracking down Uryu. She cut between houses to reach their road and hurried down the side walk. She heard the wail of an ambulance and a few seconds later it whizzed by. She was almost at her driveway and watched it go down the road but it was slowing. She felt her gut clench as it came to a complete stop. She couldn't quite tell but she was pretty sure it was the Kurosaki clinic.

* * *

"Ichigo is on his way." Rukia said as she entered the small curtained area but found Grimmjow's eyes shut. She looked for the doctor but there was no one, it was the ER, no doubt the doctor had already come and gone.

She moved closer and rested her hands on the rail. His bed was completely flat, no pillows, and he was on his stomach, trying to keep hims as comfortable as he could be. His shirt had been cut off of him and she held in her hand the chain that had been pulled from around his neck. On it were two gold rings- his parents' wedding rings. She looked down at her own hand. She wore her mother's, and Byakuya their father's. It was funny how they had both chosen that little golden band as a way to remember their parents.

Like Grimmjow with his mother, Rukia had no memories of her parents. Byakuya had raised her. He had been her everything until she met Ichigo. She had found the orange haired boy by the river, crying. And like her brother had taken care of her, she had wanted to take care of him. It had been the beginning of their friendship, one that had gone both ways over the years- her taking care of him, and him taking care of her. And all that time Grimmjow had been there, sort of off to one side, but she knew him more from Ichigo's stories of him than from their own encounters.

Now she stared down at his bare back, that horrible scar in the definite shape of a six. There was bruise around it too, the paramedics had said something about it looking like he'd fallen when she got there. Her gaze travelled up his back to a smaller scar, just to one side of his spine. The exit wound from a bullet that should have killed him.

"Oh Grimmjow." She whispered softly. His face was turned to one side, hiding those awful scars, and for a moment she forgot them and saw only the handsome boy he had been. One more person Aizen had hurt. He'd taken her parents, her boyfriend, and now he was destroying her best friend's life and he had already destroyed this boy's.

The curtain pulled back and a doctor came in, but it was not the ER doctor who had first examined him. This one moved quickly to grab Grimmjow's chart and check him over.

"Were you with him?"

"No, I just happened to be there when the ambulance came. He's a friend."

"I'm his surgeon." The doctor said, "and a personal friend to doctor Kurosaki. I understand he has moved away?"

"Yes..." She looked away from his eyes. "Are you going to be looking after Grimmjow's case?"

"I am." He was back to looking at the chart. He scribbled something at the bottom and put it back in it's tray. "A nurse will be by to give him what I prescribed." He left again. She wanted more information but he was already gone. Shortly someone came in and administered a needle. When Rukia asked what it was she said it was an ant inflammatory and she returned shortly with a cold compress she put on Grimmjow's back. She too left.

Rukia didn't know how much time had passed when she heard the gasp and Grimmjow woke. He seemed very agitated and confused. She knew he didn't see her until she was directly at his side, crouching a bit so he could see her more clearly.

"Where?" He breathed out, she could see he was already in pain.

"The hospital Grimmjow. I saw the ambulance at your house and rode with you, remember? You were awake."

"Right," but he didn't seem any more calm. He moved his arms underneath him and she knew what he was trying to do.

"Stop, you have to lie still."

"I need to get out of here."

"Grimmjow, why, what happened?"

He gave a wail of pain and collapsed back to the bed. Something was really wrong, and Rukia knew it wasn't just the pain. He slammed his fist against the matress and shut his eyes.

"Dammit."

"Grimmjow, please..." he was shaking, muscles on his back trembling, and she was shocked to see a tear seep out of his closed eyes. He didn't speak to her. He didn't burst into tears, he just remained clenched up in that painful position, like something had frozen him that way.

She watched him for a few more seconds before pushing past the curtains and calling for the doctor.

* * *

"Rukia!" She spun at Ichigo's call. He and his sisters were hurrying over to her. She was outside the curtains, the doctor had come and tried to calm Grimmjow down but he was beyond reasoning and she'd been asked to leave when two orderlies came to restrain him so the doctor could sedate him. She was shaken. Already she'd been shocked by Ichigo's story, but she had not seen the extent to which Grimmjow's mind had been damaged by all that he had gone through until today.

She found herself reaching out and pulling herself against Ichigo in a tight hug and just stayed that way, wanting to make sure he, at least, wouldn't slip away from her.

"Rukia, what's wrong? What happened?"

"They're sedating him. I don't know what happened, he hurt his back again."

"What?"

"He's really upset, he didn't tell me anything though."

The doctor came out, Rukia pulled away. Ichigo recognized the surgeon who'd been on Grimmjow's case for a while now.

"What's happened?"

"Ichigo." The doctor took stalk of the young man who was still covered in bruises. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I just got beat up."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, it was days ago, I'm alright. What about Grimmjow?"

"Well it appears he took a blow to his back, was he with you during the fight?"

"Um," Ichigo remembered Aizen's man hitting Grimmjow square in the back, "yeah, he did take a hit but he was okay the next day."

"Well he should have been resting, and it appears he was doing the exact opposite. As far as I can tell he's pulled a muscle in the region of his nerve damaged. Combined with further soft tissue damage to that area, the swelling is exerting pressure on those nerves, causing him great pain."

"Is that why he was so upset?" Rukia asked.

"I can't say for sure. Intense pain can make a person highly emotional. But since his therapist is here, I might ask her to stop by. His case it, complex, as you well know." He paused, they were all quiet. "Do you know how he injured himself?" he asked them.

"He's been cleaning up his old house."

The doctor nodded, accepting this as a good answer.

"So he'll be alright?" Ichigo pressed.

"Well, there should be no complications, it is just a pulled muscle, but because it is causing so much pain, I think we should keep him here for a few days."

Rukia noted the worry in Ichigo's face, and the girls'. "Ichigo, let me take Karin and Yuzu back to my place. You can stay with Grimmjow for as long as he needs."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course." She turned to the girls. "Come on, I have alot of cool things I can show you. I think you will really like it."

"It's true," Ichigo added, "their house is like a castle." The girls were too smart to have their attentions diverted from the seriousness of the situation, but they were also smart enough to see that this was what their brother needed, so they took Rukia's hands and left with her. Ichigo was thankful to all three girls for doing what he needed and turned back to the doctor.

"Ichigo, what's really going on?"

"Nothing, Dr. Kyro, I promise. It's just been tough with Dad leaving."

"I honestly don't understand it, after everything."

"It was my choice to stay and the girls wanted to as well. We wanted to finish school." He lied.

"Still-"  
"Please, can I see Grimmjow?"

"He'll be asleep for a while. I'm going to have him moved to a private room, why don't you get something from the cafeteria while you wait?"

"Alright."

Ichigo wandered the halls, aimless, eating a half stale bagel and sipping at bitter coffee. He felt tired. His own wounds were hardly healed, he was prepared to do all this with Grimmjow at his side, but now all the weight was crashing onto his shoulders and he was afraid he wouldn't be able to support it.

"Ichigo, you don't look too good."

Ichigo looked up at the slender teen that pushed off the wall where he'd been standing. He pushed his glasses up his nose and stepped forward.

"Uryu." Ichigo didn't bother asking him what he was doing here. His father owned the place after all.

"Come on, you better sit down before you fall down." His voice was even, he was being neither friendly nor patronizing. Ichigo just followed him to a set of comfortable chairs among an arrangement of plants and assortment of magazine. A quiet place for family members to take a moment for themselves.

"I heard about Grimmjow."

"Word travels fast, I guess."

"I was trying to get in touch with Rukia. She told me what happened."

"Oh."

"She's trying to find Renji you know."

"I know."

"She's digging into Aizen, and she's not being quiet about it."

"Grimmjow told me she had it out with your dad."

"Our parents were friends, she thinks my dad owes her answers."

"Well, does he know anything?"

The light flashed off Uryu's glasses as he readjusted his gaze. Ichigo met those challenging eyes. "Nothing that could help her."

"Are you sure?"

"Look, Ichigo, she's going about this all wrong, as is my father, and Byakuya. First off, does she really think that a high school kid will have better luck than all of Aizen's enemies? She's a fool, and deep down she knows it. But she's no more a fool than the rest of them. You see, the only thing that could make a difference, is if everyone pooled their knowledge, everyone that's too afraid to speak out, spoke."

Ichigo clenched his fist. There was no doubting the menace in Uryu's eyes. "You, Rukia, Grimmjow, you better reassess your approach."

Ichigo stood, Uryu did too, they eyed each other long and hard. The dark haired teen hadn't admitted to knowing about Isshin, but he must have made his conclusions. Ichigo was torn between wanting to punch him and wanting to beg him for help. He hardly knew the other student, but he was intelligent and calculating- more-so than any of them.

"Then help us." He finally spoke.

"Help you get killed, or end up like Grimmjow? I don't think so."

Ichigo grabbed his arm, but Uryu wrenched free easily. "You need to get your strength back Ichigo." he eyed his arm, well covered under his sweater, but it was like those piercing eyes could see right through. "Your sisters need you. And I think Grimmjow does too."

"Please Uryu."

Uryu watched him in silence fore a moment then sighed. "There isn't one base of operations."

"What?" He was taken aback by the sudden forthcoming.

"I said there is no single strong hold. That would be impractical. Aizen has plenty of warehouses, facilities, fronts- but it's the safe houses where he'd keep anything too important, and safe houses don't show up on the grid. There is no golden key, no secret stock pile of information. There is no way to find what he keeps hidden. Rukia needs to move on. And so do you."

Ichigo let him walk away. He stood there feeling his heart racing, pounding, beating in anger and frustration. He dropped back to the seat and just sat, feeling the full impact of Uryu's words.

* * *

When Ichigo finally came back to Grimmjow's room, he found he'd been gone longer than he'd intended. The doctor was standing over Grimmjow giving instructions while he stuck pads on his back.

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, good, Ichigo, you can help me see how Grimmjow's doing." Ichigo didn't like the sounds of that and when he came around the side of the bed he saw Grimmjow's eyes fixed adamantly on the window. His arms were wrapped around a pillow, another had been place underneath him, Ichigo guessed it was to get his muscles the way they wanted.

"I'm going to use pulses to make sure the muscles don't stiffen up as they heal. It shouldn't be a problem, but if you see him react, please tell me."

"Okay."

Ichigo sat down and watched Grimmjow's features. "Grimmjow?" he asked, but he knew he would only get silence. The procedure went smoothly, the doctor left, neglecting to say anything about visiting hours being long past, and left Ichigo in charge of swapping out ice packs on Grimmjow's back.

Ichigo let the silence continue on for a long time, more than an hour. His own heart was full to breaking but he needed to hold it together. He had to believe he could. And if he'd thought on it long enough, he would have realized that when his friends or family were at stake, he always withheld, endured, fought through.

Eventually something broke. Ichigo almost felt it before he heard Grimmjow shift, pulling his face into the pillow, and his body shook with sobs. His once muscular arms bunched around the pillow, and Ichigo almost feared he'd suffocate himself he was so tightly shut off, but he kept breathing, so he just let him be.

It had been his father who had comforted Grimmjow in the beginning. His father had taken on that responsibility and Grimmjow had been able to break in front of him because he was an adult, because he had taken care of Grimmjow and he had stepped into a role that desperately needed filling. Ichigo was still his friend, his peer. There was just something different, Grimmjow never really wanted him to know how damaged he was. He wanted their friendship to remain untouched by all the insanity around him. But there was no hiding anything anymore. They were both living the insanity now.

It was a long time before Grimmjow calmed down. Ichigo could see his laboured breaths, he was in pain again and exhausted. Ichigo got him a glass of water and a straw, it was a bit awkward at his angle but he drank it down, leaning on his elbows, and then just hung his head, letting the air dry his face.

"Grimmjow, what happened?"

"I found something."

Ichigo immediately tensed. "What was it?"

"You'll see when you find it. I need you to go back to the house and get it in case Aizen's guys take a look around."

"Why would they be-"

"Because they're the ones who found me and called the ambulance."

Ichigo felt sick. He didn't speak, he just had to wait for what Grimmjow said.

"They heard me screaming I guess. Came in, thought I fell off a chair and hurt myself. They didn't see anything, don't suspect anything either, as far as I know."

"Why were you screaming?"

Blue eyes struck him, red and raw, but a violent fury boiling under the surface. The strength of his emotions hit Ichigo for a second before Grimmjow turned his face away, staring down at the sheets again.

"You'll understand when you find them. Pictures. I stuffed them under the pile of clothes before Aizen's people got there. Go, Ichigo, now. And don't come back here."

"What?"

"I'll be fine, Ichigo, you need to look after the girls, and not be bothered with me."

"Grimmjow, it doesn't work like that."

"Sure it does."

"Grimmjow-"

"Okay, let me put it this way- I need some time. I'll call you when they let me out."

Ichigo watched him, not sure what was actually behind his words, but he guessed he'd figure that out when he saw what was at Grimmjow's house.

"Call if you need anything."

"Thanks."

* * *

Ichigo called Rukia but when he found out the girls were already asleep he decided to leave them there for the night. In fact, he rather liked the idea of them being secure in a mansion surrounded by gates and security cameras and busy staff. And Byakuya Kuchki was no one to mess with either. Hot shot lawyer was only his day job. Ichigo knew he had trained extensively in martial arts and even Kendo, and had won several national medals. So he left them there but declined Rukia's invitation for him to join them. He needed to clean up at Grimmjow's and he didn't know what he might find. He too, might need some alone time after.

The door was unlocked, he was glad, it gave him the pretence of just checking things out if anyone was watching him, which seemed highly likely if they had come so quickly when Grimmjow was screaming. Of all the things in the story, that may have been the most disturbing.

He moved up the stairs, it was dark, he couldn't say he himself was entirely over the events that had taken place in this house. He'd never liked coming here as a child because he feared Grimmjow's father. And tonight was the first time he'd returned since the night of Grimmjow's torture. He thought about his friend, his brother really, back in the hospital, the way he'd broken down, those scars on his bared back to remind him of what he'd already suffered. What could there be left to torture him so?

It was really too dark in the house to properly examine the photos. There was no hydro, no lights, so by the light of his cell phone Ichigo pulled the photos and file folder from the pile of clothes, and slid them inside his jacket without looking at them. He needed to face this head on, not in half light and uncertainty.

He locked the house behind him and returned to his own home. It was so empty, he turned on every light nearby just to keep the darkness at bay and turned on the tv to shut out the silence. It was near midnight. He sat on the couch and then changed his mind, not knowing where they might be watched and thinking perhaps he should go to the bedroom where shutting the blinds would seem less suspicious. But when he stood he heard a knock at the door and nearly jumped out of his skin. He still had the folder of photos under his jacket, and took a second to shove them in a kitchen cupboard before answering.

He looked through the peep hole, he didn't recognize the man.

"It's Stark." The man said through the door, guessing his hesitation. Ichigo had been unconscious for his first visit, but Grimmjow had told him about it. He had no choice, and stepped back as he let the man in. He was alone, and slouched in casually as if they were old friends.

"What do you want?"

"To check on you. I was on my way to see you when I heard Grimmjow screaming in that house over there. Good timing I guess."

"You mean you were watching the house."

"No, the other guys were, grunt work, I'm above that. But since you did just get shot, I thought I should make sure there were no complications, but I guess there were some we didn't expect."

"Your man hit Grimmjow right where he was stabbed. He's going to be in the hospital for a few days."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Fortunately for you, Miss Kuchki seems to have stepped in."

"Don't tell me you have a problem with the girls staying there."

"None at all. Remember, all you are supposed to do is go on living your normal lives."  
Ichigo snorted. "Yeah, cause that's possible."  
Stark had no comment. He didn't seem to care too much one way or the other, he was just doing his job.

"What was Grimmjow doing over there?"

"Cleaning up. He needs to, to try to get past...stuff." It felt so wrong to discuss anything personal with one of Aizen's men.

"Does he plan to return to school?"

"Doubt it now. It's so late in the year, I'm not sure how he could manage it anyhow."

"Alright." They hadn't made it much past the threshold. "Thanks for your time."

Ichigo almost questioned him, saying, 'that's it?' or something equally banal, but then realized he just wanted the man gone and shut the door behind him with a barely audible good night. He locked it and went to the kitchen, took the folder from the cupboard and ran to the master bed room.

* * *

Ichigo didn't know how long he'd been staring at the horrific photos, or the words on the back of one. He did his best the remember what he knew about Mr. Jaggerjaques' life before the alcohol and gambling addictions. He tried to remember what Grimmjow had told him about his mother and fathers' work, or anything about his parents.

But in the end he came up with just about the same story Grimmjow had pieced together. He understood why Grimmjow had broken down, why he might want to put some time and space between himself and this place, and even Ichigo once he knew the truth.

His hatred for Grimmjow's father only grew. He almost ripped the pictures apart himself but he didn't. He stared at her angelic features, her face untouched by the brutality of Aizen, though her body clearly had been. He didn't know if Grimmjow suspected it or not, but by the state of her clothes in that photo with the blood around her head, it certainly looked like she'd been raped. What more could that monster possibly have done to Grimmjow- oh wait, he had taken Isshin and nearly broken the last hope at family Grimmjow had left.

Ichigo began putting the pictures back in the file folder, but paused over the family photo. He'd never seen it before, and Grimmjow had shown him all the photos of his mother he had. He wondered if this picture was also new to Grimmjow. He looked at his father, he was repulsive to Ichigo, and yet he saw Grimmjow's looks in him. Seventeen years before all the drinking and lazing had soften his body and hardened his features, he could see that same strong jawline, those broad shoulders and lean build and a smile with just the smallest edge to it Ichigo could never define.

But their eyes were completely different. His were cold and grey and sunk into his skull. Grimmjow's were so brilliant, bright with intelligence that may not have been exploited in school but was evident in every other aspect of his life. They could be so fierce, even frightening, or so pain-filled they could break your heart. His eyes always showed his true feelings, and that was why he hardly ever looked at people straight on when he was hurting or upset.

Grimmjow's mother had the same eyes. And in the photo of her on the floor, even if she was dead, those pale blue orbs still held those last emotions. That horror and fear. Ichigo was familiar with it. It was the look that he'd seen on his own mother's face before she'd drowned saving him. It had haunted him these many years, and now these eyes would haunt Grimmjow.

He shut the file and slid it into the nightstand. But he left the lights on, feelings so alone, and so repulsed by humanity as he pulled the blankets up. He knew he couldn't sleep, and most of all, he knew he couldn't stand the lonely dark and silence after everything he'd learned.

* * *

**_Sorry for a slow update but here you go, thanks, as always, for sharing your thoughts with me!_**

**_Riza_**


	11. Chapter 11

Ichigo stayed with Rukia the next day and night. When he'd gone to pick up the girls, she'd at once seen how fatigued he was and ordered him to stay. The girls were thrilled, less for themselves and more because they knew Ichigo needed the rest. And Rukia was the closest thing they had to an older sister.

The girls had grown attached to her since the first day she came home with Ichigo to help him with his homework. Karin used to boast that their hair was very similar and maybe they really were sisters. Yuzu would get mad, feeling left out and Rukia would say that hair colour didn't matter, look at Ichigo. They always laughed at this, especially when Ichigo overheard and made some comeback.

It was nice to eat meals he didn't need to worry about and sleep most of the day. None of them went to school, he just had to hope Aizen's people didn't care. Byakuya even seemed open to letting them stay so Ichigo allowed himself to just be taken care of.

It was the end of the week, and one day turned into another, the girls played with Rukia and Ichigo contemplated everything he had learned, what Uryu had said and what he'd discovered in the file folder.

Uryu's words kept coming back to him- that they needed to pool their knowledge if they had any hope, but this knowledge was not his to share, it was Grimmjow's and besides, what difference could it make to anything? He didn't tell Rukia what he found, just that it explained Grimmjow's behaviour at the hospital and the other had asked to be alone and he was respecting that. He couldn't help worrying about him though, and wished he would at least call with an update.

* * *

"Feeling better today?" Tired eyes opened on the white and grey room. Grimmjow pulled his elbows under himself to look over at the nurse who was bringing him a glass of water and a plastic cup of capsules. He said nothing as he threw them back and swallowed the water. She took the glass back and helped him roll over onto his back. He went through his exercises with minor difficulty. The physiotherapist had given him a couple of stretches to do to keep his muscles from tightening up but other than that he was strictly to rest his back.

But the rest wasn't coming easy. Nightmares plagued him even with the sleeping pills he was now back on. He knew he could have been released on bed rest, but the psychiatrist had been by to see him and his struggle to sleep and eat properly definitely had to have something to do with it. He knew they were undoubtedly reluctant to let him go knowing Isshin wasn't there for him this time.

And what was worse was that he was trying to hold it together. Before, when he'd been cushioned in support, he didn't fight past the pain, or at least not as much as he could have. He had let it consume him, he had let himself shut down, because no one needed him anymore, because he had no will.

But now, when he wanted to shove everything aside and be strong for the girls, fulfil his promises to Ichigo, he couldn't. He couldn't stop thinking about it all- about his father, his mother, what Aizen had done, what his father had done, and what was happening now, to Isshin and the Kurosaki family. He kept thinking about how fast those men had shown up at his house and the idea of being watched and what would happen if they found out what he and Ichigo were planning. He started panicking when he couldn't simply swallow these emotions and man-up. He started worrying about Ichigo showing up and finding him still in this state.

He was losing it, and he knew it, and knowing it was making it happen faster.

He felt the pain medications begin to take effect, the constant throbbing faded and against his better reasoning he sat up.

Instantly he felt the nausea. He'd been flat for three days, he had no idea that it would have such an effect on him until he was hurling over the side of the bed.

"Smart."

He looked up at the sarcastic voice, anger flaring in him.

"Who invited you, asshole?" he shot at Uryu, fighting back another heave. The teen had a book bag slung over his shoulder, he realized it was Monday morning.

"You don't really want Ichigo to find you like this, do you?"

"Shit, is he here?"  
"No, but I'm sure he will be after school. He can only keep to his own business for so long."

"What the Fuck difference does it make to you, Ishida?"

"My you are in a bad mood." Uryu stepped closer, ignoring the mess Grimmjow had made. "Believe it or not, we're on the same side here. I was trying to give you some information that might make you feel better."

"What?"

"You don't seriously think Aizen would invest time and man power in watching you and the Kurosaki's do you? I mean, one doctor is not worth all that. Sure, he'll keep sending you cheques, but you can't possibly think he's threatened by the likes of you."

Grimmjow was not seeing the comfort or the point and was more angry that Uryu knew so much about their situation.

"What I'm trying to say," the teen continued, "is that since Ichigo and the girls started staying at the Kuchki manor, they haven't been watched. It's not because they can't be, it's because those men were under orders to make sure you four survived your first few days of your new arrangement. That's all. They don't give a damn what you're up to or what you think you can do. And now that the Kuchki's are looking out for you, they'll have even less reason to get involved in your lives. So my advice to you and Ichigo, is stick close to them and stop worrying about being watched or overheard, because Aizen doesn't care."

Grimmjow just stared at him for a long time. "How could you know all this?"

"My father." He said shortly, but the two words summed it up.

"Alright."

"Good. Now pull yourself together before school gets out." Uryu left. A moment later a nurse entered to order Grimmjow to lie down and had him cleaned up.

* * *

"Gr-Grimmjow, should you be standing?"

The figure at the window had both hands on the wall for support but turned carefully to face Ichigo.

"No, actually. Help me back to the bed before they catch me." the blue haired teen tried to give a half smile. Ichigo hurried to his side and helped him over. He wasn't sure how Grimmjow had ever made it the few feet to the window given the amount of his weight he was taking now. He eased his friend onto the bed and lifted his legs up on the bed again. Grimmjow winced but didn't complain.

"I just couldn't stay in the bed any longer." He explained once he was settled.

"Can you come home?"

Grimmjow met his eyes and there was no hiding the guilt there, even shame.

"What is it?" Ichigo pressed.

"They don't want to release me because I'm...not doing so well." he made a gesture toward his head. Ichigo felt his heart drop, but at the same time felt reassured that Grimmjow was looking pretty good now, and he was not shut down like he had been.

"What did you tell them?"

"Nothing, Ichigo, that's the problem. There's no way for them to understand when they don't know what's been going on."

"Grimmjow...those photos, I don't know what to say, just, I'm sorry."

"So am I. I can't believe that bastard. He went back to Aizen after-" Grimmjow cut himself off. He was no where near ready to get into this. "You were right to hate him, Ichigo."

"Grimmjow, I was in a bad place when I said that."

"No, Ichigo, you were right. I hate him too."

Ichigo swallowed, he didn't know how to respond to this.

"Anyway, you should stay with the Kuchki's." He explained what Uryu told him that morning.

"What about you?" Ichigo asked, already fearing he knew the answer.

"Leave me here, Ichigo. I'll be no good to any of you right now."

"You don't have to be anything, Grimmjow, except _with_ us. I think you need us around."

"No Ichigo, it wouldn't be good for the girls."

"You seem okay."

Grimmjow watched his hopeful face, his eyes darting to the floor at once. "I want to be okay." he nearly whispered.

"Then come home and you will be. I'll get you released."

"Don't, Ichigo. Just let me work through this here. I promise, when I come back, I'm going to be ready to what we have to do."

Ichigo reached out and gripped his shoulder. Grimmjow returned the motion and they knew that this was the way it had to be.

"Okay, then I'll see you soon."

"Thanks, Ichigo."

* * *

Isshin knew the instant his patient walked through the door who it was. Grimmjow had described the man's face in such gut wrenching detail that when Aizen's son walked through the door Isshin had half a mind to turn him away. But that would mean death to his own children, so he just steeled himself and told the young man to take a seat.

He was just a few years older than his own son and his hands were shaking as he sat. Another man came in, and leaned against the door in silence, there was blood on his hands.

"Are you also hurt?"

"No." He answered shortly. He was older, calmer, colder, and Isshin was fairly sure this man had also been at the house. In fact, as he looked between them, he started to think that it wasn't Aizen's son who had killed Grimmjow's father or shot Grimmjow in the chest. That man had been just as smooth and collected as the man by the door. This one before him had to be the man who'd shot Grimmjow in the leg in an act of panic.

Isshin saw a large stain on the young man's shirt and peeled back his jacket.

"It's just a graze." The man from the door said calmly. "He just needs some stitches."

His patient said nothing, differing completely to this man, his handler. Isshin cut away his shirt and found the cut to be deep, but indeed not life threatening. He numbed the area with a shot and had the boy lie down while he stitched him up, pretending he was Ichigo, otherwise his hand might have slipped, he might had done something unethical...

"All done." He said when he tied off the last stitch. "You should let me take a look at it again in a few days."

"Just don't tell Aizen about this." The man at the door left with Aizen's son. Isshin started cleaning his tools and work space when someone else came in.

"Stark."

"Yo. What happened?"

Issin shrugged.

"Wise man." Stark said taking a seat in his usual spot. He had stopped by almost every day to keep an eye on Isshin, to help him get 'oriented' as he put it. Isshin could at least ask this man questions without fear of repercussion. How was he supposed to know how this all worked, after all?

"The young one was the boss's kid, Takeo Aizen. And the other one was his handler, Omen. Never mess with either of them, you hear? Takeo breaks his father's rules all the time, because he knows no matter what, Aizen will save him. But Omen knows this too, and uses Takeo to do as he pleases and shields himself from Aizen's wrath. Don't get me wrong, Aizen is aware of all of this, but he just hasn't taken the time to deal with it properly."

"They are the ones who killed Warren Jaggerjaques, and maimed his son."

"Yes, and you did well to act professionally. That is how it must always be, understand?"

"Yes. Have you seen my family?"

"They are being looked after. The Kuchki family has been looking after your son and the girls."

Isshin instantly stiffened. "What about Grimmjow?"

"He's in the hospital. Nothing serious, that old injury in his back."

"Dammit."

"He'll be fine, they all will, as long as you continue to hold up as you have been."

Isshin said nothing. He was picturing his little girls crying themselves to sleep. Picturing Ichigo, who had been shot and bleeding when he left him, trying to hold it all together for them. And Grimmjow, alone in a hospital bed.

"I'll leave you to it then." Stark said, knowing the other needed his time. Isshin just nodded, returning to sterilizing his work space. When he was done he returned to his room. It was comfortable, an apartment, really, he had everything he needed, his treatment was fair. He lived as they all did, and he wondered if they had all ended up here under similar circumstances, and if he would someday look at this place as home instead of a prison.

* * *

"I didn't think you were supposed to be up unsupervised."  
Uryu was watching Grimmjow make his way down a hall with the support of rail along the wall.

"Do you fucking live here or something?" the other shot back without even looking at him.

"Sometimes I wonder the same thing." Uryu moved up so that he was in line with Grimmjow now. He took note of his clothes, jeans and a t-shirt.

"You're leaving, aren't you?"  
"I feel better."

"You haven't been released."

"Your point?"

Uryu just gave him a sideways glance that said everything.

"I can't waste anymore time."

"What are you going to do? I've told you it's pointless."

"Yeah, well, I thought of something."

"What?"

"The Hell I'm going to tell you. You don't even think we have a chance."

"No, I told you and Ichigo both what it will take for Aizen to go down. And trust me, unless everyone in this town grows a pair, it's not going to happen."

"Yeah, like I said, you don't think I have a chance."

"Tell me."

"No." Uryu stopped and watched Grimmjow come to the end of the rail. The hallway opened up where it intersected with another. He needed to get past the gap in order to get out but he stood on the brink, knowing he probably couldn't make it without the rail.

"You need help, Grimmjow." Uryu stood just out of his reach, not offering to help him. "In more ways than one."

"What the hell do you mean?"

"They've kept your here because of your head, Grimmjow, not your back."

"I said I'm fine."

"Three days ago you told Ichigo to leave you here."

"Yeah, three days ago."

"And what's changed."

Blue eyes boiled Grimmjow let go of the rail and took a step forward.

"Like I said, I've got a plan." He continued walking forward, slowly, shakily, but he wasn't stopping. Uryu's cool faltered when he saw the rivulets of sweat, the set grimace and those remarkable eyes. Determination. Perhaps he had underestimated his schoolmate.

When his knee did let go, Uryu was there. Grimmjow swore as he was forced to put his weight on the smaller male, but together they made it to the other side of the hallway.

"I told you, you need help." Uryu said, stepping back, and Grimmjow leaned back against the wall, half sitting on the rail to catch his breath. "So then, tell me this plan, and maybe I'll see what I can do about getting you released."

* * *

"It's stupid and volatile." Uryu concluded over his coffee. With the help of a wheel chair he'd gotten Grimmjow to the cafeteria and they sat discussing Grimmjow's plan.

"But it makes sense."

"You'll get yourself adn the Kurosaki's killed."

"No I won't.

"You want to confront Aizen at his own benefit. The same one where my mother was killed fifteen years ago."

"Not confront him, trade with him. His son, for Isshin."

"Oh, alright, that makes it so much better, because then all you have to do is get his son!"

"Hey pipe down, would you."

"You idiot." Uryu rose from the table, "Why did I even bother?"

"Because you want things to change."

"Yeah, you're right, I do, but nothing you've said to me today indicates anything will change except that two member of my class won't make it to the end of the semester."

Grimmjow stood with unexpected strength and steadiness. "You're a pussy Uryu. You say you want something but you're too afraid to do anything about it. And that's what you're always spouting, that the people have to fight back, well you're just the biggest hypocrite of them all, now aren't you?"

"No, Grimmjow, I'm not delusional." He didn't wait for a rebuttal, he stalked off, leaving Grimmjow to stand in the empty cafeteria.

Grimmjow watched him go, all hostility leaving him and sighing in relief. "Finally." He put his hands on the wheels of his chair. "Now then, time to get out of here."

* * *

"He said what?" Ichigo leapt off the couch, ignoring Rukia's restraining arm. Byakuya, who had slowly integrated into their sphere of knowledge, sat calmly, watching Ichigo react to Uryu's news.

"It would probably be best to leave him in the hospital, they are clearly correct about his mental state." Uryu concluded.

"I'm surprised." Rukia said calmly and Ichigo shot her a look.

"Surprised? Is that all you have to say? Grimmjow will kill himself and my whole family with this ridiculous plan."

"No, Ichigo, I'm surprised at Uryu, and you. You've both been played."

"Indeed." Byakuya consented, rising.

"Brother, where are you going?"

"To confirm out suspicions. Would you like to join me?"

"Wait, what the hell are you-"

"Dammit." Uyru interrupted Ichigo. The orange haired teen turned to him now instead. "That bastard lied to me."

"Of course he did." Rukia stopped and looked at her brother. "Maybe I should stay with them." He just nodded and left.

"Where is he going?" Ichigo asked.

"To the hospital, where they are no doubt looking for Grimmjow right now."

"So what is he doing? Are you saying he isn't going after Aizen's son?"

"No, of course not." Rukia said. "He was trying to leave and Uryu was in his way. He told him something stupid to get rid of him so he could leave."

"Then what's he doing now?" Ichigo demanded, but no one had an answer for this.

* * *

"You bastard." Grimmjow stared down at the grey stone set in the earth next to countless others that spanned on in even rows for as far as he could see. He didn't fight the pain any more and just let go, dropping to his knees in wet grass when the muscles relented. He didn't stifle the cry of pain, but he was only half aware of the world around him now anyway. For him, it was just this rock, that name carved in cheap stone.

"Why did you do it?" He asked, taking hold of the wet sides of the grave like he would a face between his palms. "How did you let it go that far? That he killed her? And why..." his words became choked, he swallowed and gripped the stone tighter. "Why did you go back? You knew! YOU KNEW! You knew he killed her...he... and you..." The rain fell a bit harder, sympathetic maybe, to the rent in his chest, in his heart and soul. To the noise of sheer pain that grew from deep inside him and struck the world with a brutally honest, untempered pain. His brow rested on his father's name, and he clung to the pale stone now, desperate for it's namesake to be there again.

"How can I still love you? Why can't I just hate you?"

"Because you are better than that. And because despite everything, he was your father." Grimmjow couldn't look up, couldn't let go of the gravestone, but Ichigo knelt next to him. "It's okay to miss him."

"But he's the reason your father is gone."

"And that's what's tormenting you, Grimmjow, all these days in the hospital. I know you love my dad, but that doesn't mean you have to stop loving your own, no matter what he did in the past, Grimmjow." Ichigo put a hand on the surface of the grave. "He always loved you. He made bad choices, but he _did_ love you, and I don't think he ever meant to hurt anyone. So I... I forgive him."

Grimmjow finally looked at him. He saw sincerity. He saw redemption. If Ichigo could forgive him, then he could too, and he could make up for his father's mistakes. But right now all he could feel was the strain of his loss, all he could see were those pain filled eyes and his brutalized body tied to that chair. He heard his pleas for Grimmjow to be spared, he knew his father would have endured anything to save him pain. And that was what he remembered about him more clearly than any photograph, and horrid truth.

"I forgive him too." And for the first time in their friendship, Grimmjow reached out for help. It wasn't that he had never received it- these last months it was all he had gotten from Ichigo. But he never asked. Never in their childhood, in adolescence, had Grimmjow asked to be helped until now.

Ichigo pulled him against him, half holding him up now. The rain soaked through both their clothes, but he held him tight, brother in brother's arms, and the tears were lost in those of the sky.

Byakuya found them kneeling there, Ichigo holding the heaving form, and their eyes met. They had known each other many years, and yet hardly knew each other at all, but those deep, dark eyes said everything Ichigo needed to know. They were not alone.

* * *

"You know, you scared us all half to death." Grimmjow said nothing to her rebukes as Rukia ruffled his hair with a towel trying to get out the last of the wet while he sat in silence on the edge of the bed in one of their many guest rooms. She threw the towel to one side and tried to straighten his wild blue hair in some way that made sense but gave up.

"So, what do you have to say for yourself?"

But she couldn't hold together her act of gruffness when his eyes met hers. She found herself instantly looking away. "Sorry. I'll let you rest now. Brother arranged with the hospital to have you released."

"I'm afraid I can't let him rest just yet." She turned to see the three men in the doorway. Ichigo had gotten changed as well, his own hair wild from being out in the rain. Byakuya entered, Uryu behind him, and Rukia suddenly felt very concerned.

"What is it?" She asked her brother but it was Uryu who spoke.

"Grimmjow's story, about his plans. We need to know if there was any truth to it." Grimmjow's tired eyes lifted.

"Of course not. I just needed to get rid of you."

"Grimmjow." Ichigo pushed.

"Ichigo, I swear."

There was a tense silence. Rukia put a hand on Grimmjow's shoulder. "It's just that running off and trying to solve this on your own does kind of sound like something you might do."

"Yeah well, Ichigo and I have an agreement."

"Alright then." Byakua called an end to the interrogation. With a short good night he left, Uryu after him. Rukia and Ichigo exchanged looks before she left as well.

"Grimmjow I'm sorry about that." Ichigo sat on the bed next to him. He could tell how exhausted Grimmjow was. He pulled out a bottle of pills Byakuya had brought back from the hospital and shook out two. "Your painkillers." He got a bottle of water on the night stand and gave it to Grimmjow who swallowed his medications wordlessly. There more than just the painkillers, but they had to wait for him to digest those before giving him the others. Ichigo knew the order and dose well, and right now Grimmjow just let him take control.

"Are you okay now?"

Grimmjow nodded. He was dropping, falling asleep where he sat. Ichigo gave him his anti-anxiety medication and decided the sleeping pill wouldn't be necessary tonight so he let Grimmjow lie down and go to sleep.

He sat on the side of the bed for a long time, listening to him breathing. Today had been scary. He hadn't known what to think when Rukia had concluded Grimmjow had tricked them. His first thought had been that Grimmjow really had gone after Aizen himself, on some suicidal mission. It had only been after he'd calmed down that he thought to go to the graveyard.

He bitterly regretted the words he'd sobbed out to Grimmjow: that he hated Warren Jaggerjaques. He had put Grimmjow in a position where he felt guilty to mourn his own father. He couldn't mess up like that again. He was the strong one now, he had to be, and he had to make the right decisions, all the time, no matter what.


	12. Chapter 12

Yuzu lay on the bed next to Grimmjow in a perfect mimic of how the teen lay, on his stomach, elbows supporting his upper half so he could read what was before him. She shifted only to swap out hot water bottle for a cold pack on his back, as per the hospital's instruction, and then returned to what they were working on.

"So, if I have four groups of five...I have twenty?"

"Yes." He said with a relieved sigh, finally able to give her positive feedback. She wiggled her feet int he air and smiled. "Oh I get, it! Maybe you should be a teacher, Grimmjow! You explained it much better than Mrs. Konai."

"I understood it just fine." Karin said, rolling onto the bed next to them and checking over her sister's work.

"Everyone learns differently," Grimmjow said diplomatically, "maybe Yuzu just pictures numbers more like I do. I had alot of trouble with math when I was your age."

"Really?" Yuzu asked in wonder, marvelled that someone as smart at Grimmjow could ever admit to such a thing.

"Yeah, and you know who helped me?"

"Who?"

"Ichigo. He always helped me, even when I was too stubborn to admit I was having trouble. That's the mark of a true friend you know, they help you, even if you don't ask."

"Like Rukia?" Karin asked thoughtfully.

"Yeah, exactly like Rukia."

"Grimmjow?"

"Yeah?"

"What happened to Renji?" Grimmjow tensed, Karin's eyes were knowing, serious, Yuzu, too, looked wide eyed with concern. "Rukia is still really upset. Do you know where he is?"

Grimmjow looked away. "No I don't."

"Is he...did Aizen kill him?"

"I don't know."

"Okay." He brought his gaze back up to her. Yuzu looked close to being on the verge of tears, but Karin was holding it together to get the answers she wanted.

"You and Ichigo are planning something aren't you? Is that how you got hurt, why you're sick again?"

"Karin, I... Of course we want to get your father back. I promise you if we can, we will, but no, we aren't planning anything, we don't know what to do. And it really is like what Rukia said, I hurt myself cleaning in my old house."

"So you aren't sick?" Yuzu asked.

"No, Yuzu, not like normal. You know how I was sad when I first came home from the hospital?" She nodded. The girls couldn't be shielded from all of that. They knew Grimmjow's dad had been killed, and he had been hurt by the same people. "Well, I guess I just still get sad sometimes. I'm sorry if I scare you."

"It's okay." she closed her math book and stared down at it. "I get sad about my dad too." and then the water works started and there was nothing Karin could do to stop her own tears from spilling over. Grimmjow moved so she could snuggled against him, Karin in turn hugging onto her sister. He just put his arms around them, trying too keep at bay the guilt that stirred in him for bringing this fate down on them.

Rukia eventually found them and was able to calm the girls down. She took them back to their room and returned to help Grimmjow straighten out the bed and get settled again. She said Ichigo was talking to Uryu again and had gone to fill Grimmjow's prescriptions. But she didn't leave him alone just yet, seeing a question in his eyes.

"I_s_ there a plan? Are you still looking for Renji?"

"Of course I am." she answered bluntly.

"How?"

"Well, I got in touch with some of his friends to see if they've heard anything."

"Have they?"

"No."

"What about Aizen's properties? The ones your brother and Uryu know about."

"I want to look, but Brother's been watching me like a hawk."

"Well good. As much as I hate to admit it, Uryu was right when he said there's no way we can succeed where countless other mafioso's failed. Instead, we need a new approach. We just have to figure out what that is..."

"Yeah." He saw the sorrow that had welled up in her just in starting this conversation. He sat up.

"There's something I should give you. I should have thought of it before, I guess, I just didn't want to give you false hope."

"What, what is it?"

"I have a ticket, at the Kurosaki's. It's for Edian, have you heard of it?"

Her eyes narrowed in thought, then widened in shock. "Renji was headed there when he came to Karakura."

"Yeah. And he set me up to live there. I met him here, that day he disappeared, and Isshin was taken, I was leaving, trying to protect the Kurosaki's, if you can believe that. I don't know why he would go without saying anything to you, but maybe, if he did manage to get away, he went there and picked up the life I was going to lead."

Her dark eyes were sparkling with tears, but none fell over the edge. He watched the hope and betrayal mingling in her.

"I have to go."

"The ticket is yours."

"Brother will kill me. And he'll kick you out."

"That's okay. We'll be fine."

"Tomorrow?"

"If you want to. I won't say anything until you're on your way."

He was surprised when her slim arms were around his neck. "Thank you." She whispered into his ear, and pulled back. He knew she was no fool, knew the chances of finding Renji alive were slim to nil, but if there was even the slightest chance, he couldn't let it go, not after everything the Kuchki's had done for them. And besides, Rukia was in more danger here, sticking her nose into trouble, it would probably be best if she disappeared for a while.

* * *

It happened the next day. Rukia slipped out early in the morning, before the others were awake. Ichigo and the girls went to school, thinking Rukia had overslept. Byakuya went to work, Grimmjow dressed and packed up Ichigo and the girls' things.

He said nothing to the servants on his way out, laden with bags. His back was sore, but good enough to get him home. He walked the short distance back to the Kurosaki home and opened up. He didn't know why, but he felt compelled to check everything over. He knew it was paranoia, but he just wanted to do it before everyone else got back. When he was done, he locked up again and headed back to the mansion. Everyone else would be going back there, after all, and he was not looking forward to explaining it to them.

He hadn't seen such coldness since Aizen, as he explained to Rukia's brother what he had done. Ichigo and the girls were equally quiet and shocked. Grimmjow just said he had already gotten their stuff and he left. Ichigo didn't follow right away, it was only proper that he and Byakuya hash things out themselves, Ichigo hadn't done anything wrong, after all, and Grimmjow walked home alone. When he heard the door slam shut from the kitchen, he knew Ichigo had taken it just about as well as Byakuya.

"Grimmjow, how could you?"

"Don't Ichigo. I owed her the truth, it was her choice."

"Choice? As soon as you told her there was no choice, of course she would go."

"Well, is she any safer here?"

Ichigo's eyes narrowed. "You know, you're lucky Byakuya actually, somehow agrees with you about that, because otherwise I can't say he wouldn't have killed you himself."

"He agreed?"

"That's not the point. This was a huge decision, and you made it on your own."

"It wasn't anybody's decision but Rukia's. She'll probably be home in a few days anyway."

"She better be."

"Do you really mean that? Do you really want her to come back to all of this?"

Ichigo clenched his teeth and made a frustrated growl before stomping up the stairs to his room. Grimmjow guiltily noticed the twins for the first time, they stood rather stunned by the heated argument, and then went up the stairs after their brother. Grimmjow sighed long, but he felt justified in his decision. After taking his medicines, he too, decided to go to bed early.

* * *

Ichigo seemed to come to terms with what Grimmjow had done very quickly. Grimmjow didn't know of Ichigo's solemn resolve to do what was right all the time, to be the strong one. He was just thankful he didn't have to defend himself on the subject anymore.

They returned to the original plan of just gathering information. They knew there was little use, but they had to keep busy with something.

Rukia called to let them know she was fine, but there was no sign of Renji in the coastal city. She was going to stay longer, though, until she had exhausted every possibility.

Grimmjow found the pictures Ichigo had put in the drawer. He looked at them again, this time prepared, but it was still painful. His eyes didn't miss any details this time, the anger burned deep inside of him. It occurred to him that since Aizen had signed the photo, he actually held proof that Aizen had murdered his mother, something the man must not have considered in his youth. But then, by the time the police made any move against him, he would have wiped out the Kurosaki's. So there was no point even considering the photo as leverage.

No, it wasn't hard work that paid off for Grimmjow in the end. It was dumb luck or good timing.

That afternoon he went into town to get a few groceries. The supermarket wasn't far from the police station, and he'd parked at the parking garage and walked up the street. On his way back, grocery bags weighing him down, he stopped cold, seeing who was being lead in handcuffs in a side door. Takeo Aizen.

"No way." He breathed when he saw Stark run up the steps to presumably do what he could to get the young prince released, but in a separate vehicle, two other men drove off. Grimmjow ran. He ran to his parking spot, losing groceries along the way, and threw the bags inside. He cranked the key in the ignition and sped out onto the street and in the direction of the vehicle.

It only dawned on him what kind of situation he'd put himself in, when he was driving down a residential street, hovering at what he hoped was an inconspicuous distance away. He saw them park outside a house and drove past them. He couldn't very well stop here. He drove around the block and parked somewhere on the next street over and then cut back on foot, staying close between the houses.

He was behind the men he'd followed, they were adamantly staring in the opposite direction, clearly waiting to catch the inhabitant unawares.

He remembered the night he sneaked over to his father's place, they had just been waiting in the dark to grab him. He knew how sickening that had been, how helpless he'd felt. And now here he was, knowing what was about to happen to some poor witness, and yet, what could he do about it? They would drag whoever it was off, make them promise to do what they wanted and throw them on a street somewhere.

After his own abduction, Grimmjow had found out he'd been dropped not far from his home. Maybe he should wait until the person was grabbed and brought back, in case they needed help. He wished he could intervene, but he knew he couldn't without risking the Kurosaki's. He slid back into the alley and back to the car. He would wait, but he should probably tell Ichigo.

"You what?" He'd been so pumped up on his adrenaline high he had failed to see how Ichigo might be mad about all of this. He explained what he knew would happen and that he just wanted to be there for whoever it was when they were brought back.

"Grimmjow, come home right now." Grimmjow tried not to let the condescension in Ichigo's voice make him angry. He was on the opposite side of the river from home, not far from the bridge and he stared in that direction as if he could actually see Ichigo glaring at him from his own house.

"If you don't come back, I'm going over there."

"I have your dad's car."

"Then I'll take yours."

"You don't have the keys."

"Then I'll walk."

"I'll be fine, just stay there." He heard the echo of car doors slamming. "I have to go." He shut his phone and dropped it on the seat and went back through the narrow alley to see if it had been the men who'd left the car. It wasn't, instead it was a woman, she was getting out of a car parked in the drive of the house being watched.

She was young, not thirty, she was wearing all black and her eyes were shielded with sunglasses but they didn't hide the streaks on her cheeks. She must have just said good-bye to whoever it was Aizen junior had killed this time.

She pulled out her keys and put them in the door. It was then that Aizen's men made their move. They were out of the car and at her door before she'd opened it all the way. One shoved her inside and the other followed, slamming the door shut before anyone could see.

Grimmjow was stunned. He didn't know what he had expected, anything he chose to witness was going to be awful, and found himself starting to shake with a nervous fearfulness, but not for himself, for the girl. He thought they would cart her off like they had him, but he guessed if she lived alone, there would be no need.

He stood rooted, staring at the house, wondering if he should run back and call the police for her. But they could trace his call, Aizen could find out it was him and then what would happen to Isshin, the girls, Ichigo?

Darkness was falling, and he got a stronger and stronger urge that he should be doing something. How long did it take to put the fear in her, anyway? He glanced down the street and saw the rows of cars lined up outside of houses and he had his answer. He moved to the end of the driveway and scooped up a rock from the neighbour's garden. He hurled it at a car. It struck the rear window, smashing through and to his delight, setting off the car alarm. Just to be certain someone would call the police, he grabbed a garden gnome and threw it through the window of the next car down.

He fell back into the shadow, the sun down far enough now to give him pretty good coverage, and heard the shouting. People ran out onto their porches, but more importantly, the door to the woman's house flew open and the two men fled. They were smart enough to know not to stick around when the cops arrived. They ran for their car and Grimmjow waited to see if the woman would come out.

She did, but she was not staggering from drunkenness as Grimmjow had. She was holding her torn shirt together and trying to stay upright. Someone spotter her, there was a scream as she collapsed. The car screeched down the street and Grimmjow knew he should be running too but he was horrified by what had been happening to her this whole time he had just been standing there. He didn't think they'd raped her, but if he'd waited much longer that was definitely where things were headed. A neighbour reached her, she was safe now, Grimmjow couldn't linger any longer, people were trying to figure out what happened.

He ran back through the alley to where he was parked and ran so fast he nearly stepped out in front of a car. The car was going terribly fast, but, spotting him, it screeched to a halt and his whole body turned cold.

They had looped around. Instead of heading back the way they came, Aizen's men must have thought to try to network their way through the residential roads and they had looped around right back to him.

He may have saved the girl, but he had just gotten himself and maybe the Kurosakis killed.

"You little bastard." He couldn't see the men past the headlights. He didn't know if they knew who he was or if they just knew what he'd done. But they reversed and turned the car right at him.

He had been too shocked to move for the first few moments, but when the headlights were coming straight for him, he came to his senses and jumped up on to it's hood. For a moment he crouched there, staring in at them. Yes, they'd been at the house. One was actually the man he'd shot in the arm. Their car was blocking his own, his only chance was to run while they were pointed at the wall. He jumped off the hood and ran down the street, hearing the scrape of tires and grind of gears as they tired to get pointed back at him.

He had been one of the fittest boys in high school before all of this. Months of resting a wounded body had stolen his stamina, but months of rehab, enduring enormous amounts of pain, had trained him to fight past everything, past the pain, the weakness, the willingness to give up and lay down, so he just ran like he would never stop.

Eventually the car caught up to him. He dodged through the next alley and worked his way back to the river, hoping to lose them when they couldn't directly follow him. But his plan must have been too obvious because when he broke out of the last alley and heard the rush of the water he saw them rounding the corner at the end of the street.

He didn't waste his breath cursing his stupidity, he didn't turn back to get trapped in that rat nest of houses, instead he ran for the guard rail and jumped over just before they slammed into it. It was enough to slow them down. He just kept running on the rocky edge next to the road, hoping another car might spot him, somehow rescue him. The car was getting further behind, they must have blown something when they hit the guardrail. He made it to the bridge and thought maybe he was home free.

He was about half way across when the first shot fired. The car was speeding in his direction but the new threat was the man leaning out the window shooting at him. He was in serious trouble. He couldn't even look back, but the roar of the engine and the increasing accuracy of the shots told him he really only had one choice.

He vaulted over the side of the bridge just before the car ran him down, or a bullet found him. So many things went through his head as he fell. First, the bridge was so much higher than he thought it was. Second, there was a dancing light in the corner of his vision and he thought he heard several voices hollering. And last, he thought he was going to die in the same river that had claimed Ichigo's mother and felt terribly guilty for doing that to him.

Ice water struck him hard, stinging his face like being slapped. But he sank deep, not hitting rock or the bottom, and he realized how lucky he was to have not been hurt or killed right there. It was dark under the water, but there was no mistaking the impact that struck right before him, streaking to the bottom in a thin, straight line. Another bullet pierced the river even closer and he knew he had to move.

He tried to stay under but he needed air and when his foot hit the bank of the river he shoved himself upwards and gasped for oxygen. He reached out with his hands and pulled himself to the shore, his clothes weighing him down and his hands sinking into the soft mud but he struggled up as fast as he could, knowing he didn't have a chance if they caught him like this.

It was then that he realized what the dancing light and shouting had been. Of course, he was on the bridge, after all, and who hung out under the bridge? Those same filthy punks who had beat up Ichigo and ratted out Renji.

He stopped moving when the gun was pointed at his head. There was a long stillness, steam rose from his body, the man before him crouched low, pressing the barrel to his head, but his attention was turned upward. All the boys were silent, fire arms drawn, and as the water drained from his ears, Grimmjow heard what they were listening to: footsteps on the bridge, working their way down the bank. They heard the rustle right at the edge of their camp, and then the two burst out of the brush.

Grimmjow really didn't know who started shooting first. The flickering light, the cold steel on his own head and the body before him blocking half the scene, but someone shot, and once it started, it didn't stop until bodies hit the sand.

It didn't matter if these two men were much more skilled, if they were backed by Aizen's huge organization, because right now, they were outnumbered by these barley-out-of-their-teens punks. In the direct line of fire like that, Aizen's men dropped dead in a matter of seconds. Countless shots had still been fired in that time, and a couple of the gang's men were on the ground, crying out, or not moving.

Grimmjow's body was trembling in the cold of the water and his awkward stance, but that was alleviated when he hauled up by the man before him and thrown back toward the fire. He felt the warmth of blood and saw the dead eyes of one man near him. But his comrades kicked past his body to get to Grimmjow.

"Who the Fuck are you?"

"Just some highs chool kid." Someone said moving closer. Behind him a few guys were examining the bodies.

"Holy Shit."

"What?"

"These are...Aizen's men." Everyone turned to see. The apparent leader stalked over and checked for himself. He let out a curse and turned to the others.

"Pack it up, we're out of here. Throw them in the river, someone get their car."

People started moving, Grimmjow tried to take the opportunity to escape but he was knocked back on the ground by his captor and lay there as the leader came to stand above him now. He tried to ignore the dead body next to him as someone grabbed its feet and drug it to the river as well.

"Why were they after you?"

"Boss, we gotta go. Just shoot him and toss him." Another said.

The man hesitated and then nodded. "You're right." But he didn't draw his own gun. "Wait." He instructed the person about to drag the bodies of Aizen's men to the river. "Give me one of their guns and don't touch them."

They dug in the sand and tossed the hand gun to him. It was bulky, silver, a Desert Eagle. He held it up with a smile. "Too bad I'm going to have to toss it." He pointed it at Grimmjow.

"I'll make it look like he was shot by them, then I'll leave a couple of our guns on him, make it look like it was just the three of them."

"Good thinking boss."

"Wait," Grimmjow was scrambling for something to say, anything to save his life. But he was ignored.

"Get him on his feet." the man instructed, "so it looks right."  
Grimmjow was drug up from the sand, shaking now and having trouble staying up.

"Don't do this. I have...information I can give you." He was desperate, anything to buy a few more seconds.

"No time, kid, Rod, step away so I don't get you." The big man holding him in place moved to the side. Grimmjow stood unsteadily, preparing to jump to one side or do anything when the trigger was pulled even though he knew it was pretty much pointless. But then the whir of the police car caught them all by surprise. The boss fired in between aiming at Grimmjow and turning to the police and completely missed both. Grimmjow just ran.

Everyone was running, some people started shooting at the police, but he didn't stop. It was just one cruiser that had arrived, no one followed him as he made it up the bank and on the road. He saw a couple of the younger ones in the gang out run him, making for the houses to get lost. But he didn't follow them. He just ran for home. He wasn't operating on anything but the pure desire to be back in those four walls with the last family he had. His mind was too numb, along with his body. He didn't even notice the car that had slowed down next to him until the door opened and he ran straight into it.

"Get in." The voice was calm and cold. He hung onto the door to keep from falling and looked into the vehicle. When he saw who it was, he fell into the passenger seat and Byakuya started driving again before he even had the door closed.

And just like that they were driving past police cars and on their way home while Grimmjow soaked the leather seat in his sopping wet clothes. The car ride was smooth and straight but to him the road was twisting before him, the car spinning in circles and he vomited over the dashboard before slumping back in the seat.

* * *

_**Well I struggled with this because after so much slow, emotional stuff, I found the action actually kind of difficult to write and make fit with everything else, but at the same time it was needed so I hope it worked, anyway, the action will be conintuing in the next chapters, hope you enjoyed!**_

_**Riza**_


	13. Chapter 13

Ichigo just got off the phone with Grimmjow and was reaching for his coat, yelling at Karin that he would be back as soon as possible, but when he threw the door open, Byakuya was standing there, hand raised to knock.

"I have news from Rukia." He said before Ichigo could say he really needed to run. The teen stood torn between the information that must be pretty urgent if Byakuya had shown up himself, and getting to Grimmjow.

"What?" He finally said, stepping aside to let Byakuya in and hoping Grimmjow wouldn't do anything stupid before he got there.

"She found Renji."

The orange haired teen froze, eyes wide.

"He was severely injured," Byakuya continued, "that's why he disappeared. He needed to heal."

"But he's okay?"

"From what she said, he still needs time to recover."

"What happened?"

"I don't have details, our conversation was brief."

It all rumbled around in his head but he finally allowed himself to feel relieved. Renji was alive. His friend, his best friend's boyfriend- he couldn't believe that this miracle could happen after all the bad. But then he thought to Grimmjow and he felt panicked again.

"Aizen's son was arrested again." he blurted out. "Grimmjow spotted his men staking out someone's house, he's there now, I need to bring him back."

"Where?"

Ichigo told him, Byakuya headed for the door. "Stay with your sisters. I'll bring him back."

Ichigo started to protest but the door shut and he watched the lawyer get in his car.

He and Byakuya had had a long conversation the day Rukia went after Renji, the longest they'd ever had, in fact. He'd learned much about the man who had always just drifted in and out of the mansion with nothing but the politeness dictated by manners. But as Grimmjow had stormed away, not bothering to defend his actions or say thank you, Ichigo had tried to say how sorry he was, how thankful he was, but Byakuya had stopped him.

"Renji came to Karakura on his way to get away from his past. He made bad choices, he had to live with that." Byakuya had interrupted Ichigo's apologies and the teen had just stood in stunned silence. "He just showed up here one day; he and Rukia were nearly inseparable. I forbade her to see him. He was older than her, he was uncivilized and I could see from the ink he'd allowed to taint his skin that he was not worthy of her company. But then she finally told me why she trusted him so much, and come to love him so deeply."

Byakuya had paused to take a long breath. Ichigo had felt his own heart beat faster at the dark tone edging into this story. "He was just passing through Karakura. He's always said that, off-offhandedly, making his decision to stay here seem like nothing but a whim. But it was really because of her. He got off the bus to stretch his legs while it refuelled. He walked around the back of the gas station, and he heard a cry. It was his first encounter with Aizen's men. And with Rukia. He saved her from their brutality, and he missed his bus. He brought her home unharmed, and I never knew because I was working late. He broke his hand in the fight, but didn't want to go to the hospital so she took him to the clinic the next morning."

"To dad."

"Yes."

"I remember. When we asked who he was, Rukia said he was a new student at the high school. I remember the look on his face and knew it was news to him as well."

"He stayed for her. She needed him, because I was not around enough to notice she had even been in danger. He gave her the attention and protection she deserved, and I almost lost another member of my family to Aizen. And now, Renji is gone because of that monster. So don't thank me for taking you in, Ichigo Kurosaki, when Aizen turned on you, and don't apologize for Grimmjow doing what I should have done a long time ago and done something my sister actually needed. No, Aizen's reign of terror is the responsibility of those of us who are old enough to have done something. Too many of us have suffered by his hand and done nothing to stop him. So if you ever need my home or help again, it is yours."

Ichigo remembered standing there for much longer than he should have before accepting Byakuy's handshake and then taking the girls home.

So now, when he stood at the door staring out the window across the river to where Grimmjow was, he knew that he could absolutely trust Byakuya to bring him home. He knew they did not stand alone.

* * *

"Sir, shouldn't we take him to a hospital?"

"Just get him changed, we don't have time. Ichigo, are the girls ready?"

"We didn't have time to pack-"

"You won't need anything, we'll start over."

"What about dad?!"

"There's no choice, we have to go."

"Byakuya, We don't even know what happened."

"Bodies, Ichigo, and a police shootout, and Grimmjow was clearly in the middle of it!"

The flurry of activity was slowly coming into focus for Grimmjow. People were jostling him around, pulling off his wet clothes. The fighting continued, Byakuya ordered the car to be fuelled and brought around. Then with a lurch Grimmjow came too completely and sat up sharply, striking one of the servants recruited to change him.

"Oh my gosh, Grimmjow." Ichigo dropped next to him, holding him steady. "What happened?" Byakuya moved in closer too. Grimmjow took stock of himself on the floor, half in wet clothes still, very sore, very shaky, but everything was still working and he turned his full attention back to the others. He could see the girls were just behind them but he just let it all out. It was all still too shocking to believe it had happened: the woman, the car trying to run him down, the bridge and the shootout on the beach. How close he'd come to dying and then to getting caught.

"And then you were there." He concluded looking to Byakuya. "And I puked in your car."

The other two were silent, processing everything that was too unreal to comprehend.

"They're dead." Grimmjow said finally, his own story sinking in.

"Aizen doesn't know it was you."

"Unless someone in the gang identifies you." Ichigo said.

"Oh Hell, Isshin, the girls." Grimmjow gripped his chest. "I did this."

"No." Byakuya rose and every conviction he'd made to Ichigo a few days ago was echoed in his words now. "You stopped a girl from being violated, maybe even killed, Grimmjow. You've already done more than anyone to stop that maniac." He reached down and grabbed his arm, pulling him up to his feet. "Take the girls and go, both of you." He pushed Grimmjow toward Ichigo who steadied him.

"My dad." Ichigo protested.

"Your dad is not held captive to control you- you are here to control him, and right now Aizen is dealing with the fallout of his son being in jail and two of his men being found dead by the river. There may never be a time when he is more distracted, so go now. You cannot save Isshin, but you can do for him the only thing I am sure wants and that is to protect those girls and yourselves." Byakuya watched them for a long moment and then shook his head.

"No, I will you take you, it will be safer for you all." He turned and gave more orders. Someone passed Ichigo the rest of Grimmjow's dry clothes and the girls moved closer to them when Byakuya disappeared up the stairs to grab what he needed.

"I'm so sorry." Grimmjow said as Ichigo sat him down to pull his shirt off and put the new one on.

"Byakuya's right. We can't let Aizen rule us like this. If it had been me- I couldn't have watched that either."

"I shouldn't have followed."

"We made a pact. We were both trying to get information."

"Ichigo..."

"What?"

"I can't go."

"I know."

The girls gripped onto them both when Ichigo was done helping Grimmjow get changed. Yuzu held tight to Grimmjow, Karin to Ichigo.

"What are we going to do?" the latter asked her brother.

"You will go with Byakuya. Grimmjow and I need to stay here, for dad."

"No." She said back firmly. "If you stay, I stay."

"And if she stays I'm staying!" Yuzu added.

"No one is staying." Byakuya came back into the room. He had a bag, and he picked up something from the floor- Grimmjow's medications that Ichigo had grabbed when Byakuya had given him five minutes to get his essentials and get over here. "You can do no good for Isshin here." He handed the bag of small bottles to Grimmjow emphatically. Grimmjow's eyes narrowed at the implication and he rose.

"I know more than anyone what Aizen can do. So I've got no illusions, _prince_, what'll happen if he wants me. But I'm finishing this, now. I am _not_ running away."

"Then you would condemn these girls to that same fate you say you know so well."

"Of course not." Grimmjow hissed.

"Oh, then you want me to take them so you and Ichigo can stay to play hero. And when you are slaughtered and these girls are truly orphans, I will carry on the responsibility of caring for them, will I?"

"Byakuya!" Ichigo cut in when he saw the horror stricken looks on his sisters' faces.

"You are all coming with me, right now." The Kuchki heir proclaimed.

"Byakuya, you said if I ever needed something you would help. You said you wished someone had done something before now."

"Tell me, then, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to call him out at the Benefit tomorrow night." Grimmjow burst out and both Ichigo and Byakuya turned to him. "I'm going to admit what happened here tonight, what happened to me the night my father was murdered, and I am going to take Aizen's autograph that's on the proof that he raped and murdered my mother. And if he still wants to kill me after that, after everyone in that room is witness to what I say, then he can go ahead and fucking try. And if he does kill me, and this town still doesn't change after that, then I'll be glad I don't have to live in this world anymore."

There was a long silence after this. Byakuya stared him down for a long time but fierce blue eyes didn't turn away and those terrible scars were the constant reminder that he did know what he was talking about.

Finally, Byakuya spoke. "So you plan on going to the Charity Benefit tomorrow night?"

"Yes."

"Then you're going to need me to get you on the guest list."

* * *

"Are you alright?" Ichigo asked as they stood before the huge mirror in the bathroom and tried to straighten their suits.

"I'm fine." Grimmjow said while reaching in his pocket and pulling out his pills. He shook a couple out and then decided to shake out a couple more.

"Grimmjow, how many of those are you taking?"

"Way I see it, if things go south, it would be nice not to feel anything, in fact, why don't you take some too." He tossed the bottle of pain pills to Ichigo and then hauled out his anti-anxiety meds, popping back a couple of those as well. "Mental fortification" he said and offered those to Ichigo as well but the other declined.

"You're going to pass out or kill your liver."

"Ichigo, are seriously worried about my liver when we are planning what we're planning?"

"Yeah guess you're right."

"Maybe it's me who should ask if you're okay. _Are_ you you really ready for this?|"

"Of course."

"Okay then."

The door cracked open and Byakuya, who looked ten times better than either of them in his three piece suit, leaned in to tell them it was time to go. The two boys stopped only to say good bye to Karin and Yuzu, who, in the end, had gotten their way. After much deliberation, it had been decided to leave them here with Kuchiki security on them every second. If everything went wrong tonight, arrangements had been made to have them taken from the country with Rukia and Renji.

"I'm glad now, Rukia left." Ichigo said as they got in the limo. Byakuya was silent. Grimmjow just nodded and they too lost the will to speak.

Little had been done in the way of planning this. It was an erratic decision but they had all vowed to stick with it and see it through. The fallout of yesterday's events was still unclear and if they waited any longer who knew what havoc would strike. Aizen would be there, to try to show off his community spirit as well as his son's innocence.

When they arrived, and Uyru spotted them, Ichigo at once felt guilty that he hadn't forewarned him or his father. However, when he saw the looked that passed between Mr. Ishida and Byakuya, Ichigo thought perhaps he had slipped his old ally a message. Uryu didn't say anything though, he just continued about his business, chatting to all the right people as his father had instructed. They milled about for a while, just waiting for the moment when Aizen would arrive, make his annual speech about whatever charity he had chosen to throw his blood money at this year and then leave. Ichigo felt his nerves building and when he glanced at Grimmjow and saw he was perfectly calm he sort of wished he had taken him up on the offer of the pills.

But then the man of the hour arrived and both boys sunk to the background while the hotel's owner made a big speech about the kindness of Aizen and hoping that others would make donations to this year's charity. Byakuya had stood strategically before them, as well as Uryu and his father.

Five, standing together, who would resist this evil.

Aizen finished his disgusting speech and stepped back a bit to invite the floor to other donations. Ichigo glanced at Grimmjow, he nodded, they stepped forward together.

"We have a donation." Ichigo announced. "It's a little different though. It's information."

Aizen was not pleased, but he would never show any sign of annoyance or anything but his calm arrogance before this crowd.

"Oh?" He just said with a mocking smile.

"Some of you may have heard about what happened yesterday." Grimmjow began, finding his voice after hearing Ichigo's so strong and defiant. "Well let me fill you in on some of the details. In fact, let me give you a little history lesson. Yesterday, I followed his men back to the home of a young woman, where she was attacked. She was attacked because she was witness to a crime Takeo Aizen committed. I knew that's what they were doing, because it was the same thing that happened to me, three months ago, when I endured three hours of torture at his son's hands; watched him murder my father. And when the day came for me pick him out in a line up, I lied, because his men came for me, hauled me away and showed me pictures of Ichigo's family, the family who took me in, and he told me if I didn't comply, they would find out what it feels like to have this happen to them." He pointed to his face, that no one could ignore. Everyone was held in suspended silence, Aizen didn't interrupt him in the pause, he just continued to watch them with an amused smile.

"They broke into that girls' house. They hurt her. And I still froze because I was afraid of what might happen to me if I stood up against him. But I did. I stopped them, I escaped them, and they ended up dead under a bridge because Aizen was stupid enough to sell a bunch of half-baked kids guns and they shot his own men. He put guns in kids' hands, he killed Renji Abarai for daring to stand up against him, he killed my father over some stupid gambling debt, and he didn't pay the price for any of it. He killed the Kuchki's. He killed Mrs. Ishida. He killed countless others, and," he pulled out the photos and threw them on the ground at Aizen's feet. "He raped and killed my mother and then mutilated her body to make it look like an accident. He even signed a picture as proof. And now, after everything he's done, he took Isshin Kurosaki right out of his home, shot Ichigo, and terrified Karin and Yuzu, because he needed a new doctor."

This did get some exclamations from the crowd.

"He told us what he would do to those girls if Isshin ever failed in his duties. He told him what he would do to Ichigo, to me. I lied to keep this man's secrets because I wanted to protect the people I love. But I almost let a girl get raped yesterday for that reason. And that is what this whole city has done. We've let it be raped by Aizen for years, turned into a defiled thing we don't know. So I am asking for you all to make it stop. And Aizen, I am telling you, that you will not win this fight. We will bring Isshin home."

The silence was overwhelming. Ichigo watched Grimmjow hold Aizen's stare. He watched the crowd stay so still it looked as if they weren't even moving, or breathing, and then he saw a hand fly and Grimmjow was on the floor and Aizen was rubbing his knuckles and turning to face Ichigo.

But more than the blood on Grimmjow's face as he rose, he noticed how no one in the room moved to help them.

"You two could have had easy lives. I gave you that chance. I gave you fair recompense for the inconvenience of losing your father."

"Inconvenience? You bastard-" Now Ichigo felt the sting of his hand but Grimmjow's strong arm kept him from falling over.

He straightened, Aizen continued talking. "You two had your turn, it's only fair I had mine now." He bent and picked up the photographs.

"I had almost forgotten about this Grimmjow. It had been so long since your dad and I played a hand of poker that when he showed up, desperate to earn some quick cash to foster his drinking problem, it took me a long time to see that that haggered sack of meat was the man who won over dear Syan's heart. You _did _know she loved me, first right?"

Grimmjow reacted, Aizen smirked. "Oh yes, we were all close back then, she showed me that she was quite the woman. When she chose Warren, I let her go, merciful, because she didn't know yet who I was, so I couldn't hold that against her. And then she came to me, after her body was bloated from the act of giving child, and offered herself to me in payment of his debts. And I was merciful again."

"You bastard!" Grimmjow lunged now, but Aizen's men had been waiting for it and they melted out of the crowd instantly, restraining Grimmjow, and when Ichigo tried to intervene, him as well. Now the boys stood in the middle of the crowd, helpless, subjected to Aizen's words and their eyes.

"I admit things got out of hand, I was young and reckless and I covered it up in a manner most vile, so for that ungracious act, I do apologize. But what you don't understand boys, is that by not taking credit for my work, I am showing this world a kindness, another _mercy. _See, you boys came here tonight thinking to make some bold stand, that you would change things, or at least, by calling me out in public, protect yourselves from being killed by me. But you were so naive. This society has operated on my rules for a long time now and these citizens know what to do even in this most vulgar of circumstances."

He walked over to a table with candles and selected one. He walked back to them, holding it like a parishioner at a candlelight vigil, and their eyes were trapped on that flames.

"No one will help you." He nodded, the man restraining Grimmjow pulled his arm out, forcing it away from his body. Aizen brought the flame up against his palm. Grimmjow grit his teeth, Ichigo screamed first on his behalf. Grimmjow tried to hold back, but despite all those pills he'd taken, he felt that small point of light and heat eating at his skin, smelt it cooking his living flesh and he screamed.

"Enough!" Byakuya stepped forward, Aizen didn't stop but a gun was raised to Byakuya's head.

"That's one." he said. Grimmjow continued to scream.

"STOP this!" Ishida stepped forward as well but was also stopped by a gun.

"Two." Aizen said smiling into Grimmjow's sweat plastered face.

"Fuck you." He grimaced out and clenched his teeth to stop himself form screaming further.

"He's right." Uryu stepped forward. "Fuck you, Aizen."

The Hollow king smiled, stepping back from Grimmjow and dropping the candle.

"Three."

There was a resounding bang. Ichigo tore his eyes from Grimmjow and watched their classmate fall. Uryu fell sideways into his father who eased him to the ground and immediately put pressure on his abdomen but not many survived a wound like that. The man holding Grimmjow let him go and he too fell, the burn in his hand so terrible, causing blood loss and his vision to spot.

Aizen stood over him. "You see, all these people will watch me commit murder. And they will never say a word, because I will rape them, I will torture them, I will kill them and if they don't care about themselves then I will do it to their sons and daughters. But as long as they follow my rules, they can live in the peace I have granted them all these years. You don't think I could just walk down the the police station and take my son back if I really wanted? The only reason I don't shoot a bloody path through that place is because I _allow_ you all to live in the illusion that society's laws can still keep you safe! But fools like you, Ichigo Kurosaki and Grimmjow Jaggerjaques, had to come along and ruin the balance, so I think you need a reminder. And you Grimmjow, because your mother chose the wrong man, her son will suffer more than anyone, will lose, more than anyone."

But he backed away from Grimmjow and returned to Ichigo. He held out a hand and one of his men knew the signal, handing over a knife. "Did you really prepare him for what he faces tonight, Grimmjow?" He asked, tracing the knife point over Ichigo's cheek, as if deciding where to cut. "Did you ever describe to him was it felt like to...lose a body part?"

The blade slipped behind his ear so fast he didn't know what happened until he felt the sudden heat on the side of his head and saw what Aizen held in his hand and flung at Grimmjow. The shock was keeping the pain at bay, and even though he could see his own ear on the ground he really only felt a loud pounding on the left side of his head and a strangled noise more of confusion was all that escaped him. Aizen got more of a reaction out of Grimmjow and the crowd and he just smiled all the more wickedly at the blue haired teen. "So you lay there, and you watch me drag him away and you see how everyone else here, Karakura's high society, does nothing to stop me. And then you go back to those two little girls and tell them how you got their brother killed, how he was tortured to death before their father. And how I am coming for them next."

"NOOOOOOOO!" He lurched off the ground when the men holding Ichigo started to take him away but someone planted a foot in his chest and he fell back wheezing.

"Don't worry, Grimmjow, you can live. You can wear that horrible face of yours around for everyone to see, for everyone to remember what I can do. They will see how I took everything from you, past and present, and know that there is no god to fear, just me. And they will pray everyday for me to be merciful."

"No." the simple, calm word came from above Grimmjow. Byakuya deftly struck the arm holding the gun before him and wrenched it away, in the process serving an elbow to the temple of its owner. Aizen and Ichigo were furthest away but he shot at least one of the men before fire was returned. Aizen's smooth exist suddenly became a firefight of dodging bullets, few knew of Byakuya's extensive training in the martial arts and his cool demeanour only helped him swipe the feet out of his opnonets and advance for the elevator where Aizen was headed. But he couldn't get there before the doors closed, and when he reached them, slamming a fist against them in anger, he turned back to the rest and said in a low voice,

"Cowards."

He glanced at the Ishidas and then to Grimmjow but the boy on the floor, only half standing yelled _go_ and he didn't hesitate a second longer before running for the stairs.

* * *

_**Fewf, that was an emotionally exhausting one! More to come! Let me know what you thought!**_

_**Thanks,**_

_**Riza.**_


	14. Chapter 14

Grimmjow came too puking in the ER. The hotel was right next door to the hospital. He had been conscious the whole time but when they started treating his hand he must have blacked out. They weren't finished, he could only have been out for a few minutes, and he started to struggle.

"I have to go!" He screamed. It was what he had screamed the whole way here. When people had converged on him to help, and he had cursed them all for being cowards, for only being human when Aizen wasn't in the room. He had kicked people, he had screamed himself hoarse but in their evening gowns and tuxedo's they'd gotten him here, mostly carrying him. He didn't know the Benefit's guests were still here, outside the ER, in the lobby, some being treated for shock, but all of them here, regardless of their state, because they just didn't know what to do. Because two boys had done what they all should have long ago.

"Give him more morphine." Someone yelled, trying to pin him and he tried to protest but when the pain dulled away he sighed in relief and asked for more.

All he needed was to stay conscious. If they could shut out the pain and he could still function, then he would get out of here and he would find Ichigo.

"Enough, good." He sat up, they were still wrapping up his hand. It was throbbing, but the pain now felt distant, like it was still there, pounding away at his nerves, but layers of morphine made it's impact minimal.

"You need an operation, skin graphs- this is just to hold your hand together until that can happen." The doctor said but Grimmjow brushed past her.

The jacket of his suit had been cut away and his sleeve torn off to get better access to his hand. He yanked off his tie as he strode out into the waiting room of the ER but he stopped short seeing all the people from the party.

"Who saw." he asked. "Who saw where he went?" The police, who had been trying to piece together the night's events, noticed him and moved toward him, but people seemed to stand up and get in their way on purpose, allowing Grimmjow this chance.

"I said who-"

"I did." a young girl, only fifteen or so, stood up, away from her parents. "I was at the window. I saw them drive onto Water Street, along the river."

Grimmjow shut his eyes, trying to think where that might go.

"The warehouse on the water." Everyone turned to see the pale faced owner of the hospital. Grimmjow's hostility dropped.

"Uryu?"

Ryuken lifted his blood soaked, shaking hands aloft. "It is up to the surgeons."

Grimmjow nodded, but he couldn't waste time. People parted for him, they blocked the officers who would stop him or slow him down. And when he got out the front doors, Byakuya's limo was there. The driver was standing at the passenger door, already open.

"Where to, sir?" He asked like he already knew. It was possible Byakuya had given him some sort of heads up, but Grimmjow didn't question it, he shut the passenger door and looked the driver straight on.

"You ain't coming." He brushed past him and got in the driver's seat. The keys were in the ignition and he cranked them.

"Sir please stop! Sir, where are you going?"

He slammed the door shut and locked himself in.

"Sorry." He said it more to the steering wheel than the chauffeur. "I'm going to the warehouse on the river, and I'm not stopping until I'm in the damn thing.

* * *

Isshin was shoved out into the main loading dock of the warehouse, a large open space with many machines and tools, but none of them ever used to move cargo. He hadn't been here since the day he arrived, and he knew this was not a good place to be.

Everyone was tense, some crazy reports had come in the last few minutes and all on the heels of losing two men yesterday. But when he stumbled down the steps to see the figure kneeling there, blood drenching one side of his neck and chest below the disfiguring wound on the side of his head, he felt a horror greater than anything he could ever have imagined.

"ICHIGO!" He tried to run to him but was knocked back and held in place. "No, I did everything you asked!"  
"Yes, you did, but your family decided to risk it all, and this is the price." Aizen responded. "I am sorry, it would have been nice to keep you around, you were effective. But I don't think I will be able to trust you once I have finished murdering your family."

"No. Why are you doing this?"

"Because tonight, two boys tried to stand up to me. Tried to convince the other people of this fine town to do the same. And even if they didn't help them- not when I burned a hole through Grimmjow's hand, or when I shot Uryu Ishida in the stomach, or when I ripped off Ichigo's ear- they planted a seed of defiance, and I can't have that. The destruction of your family will serve as a reminder to them that I am in control."

Isshin looked to Ichigo, who, despite his obvious pain, kept his head high, his eyes narrowed in determination.

"You did that Ichigo?"

"Yes."

"Then I am so proud of you."

But Aizen stepped between them. "Tie them both up."

* * *

Byakuya wheezed, tasting blood. He feared he had gone as far as he could. He dropped his empty gun in the dirt and fell against the side of the building, clutching the growing stain of blood in his suit. Three men lay dead, he was sure there were more coming for him and he let himself slide. But before he hit, small hands caught him. When they didn't prove enough to keep him up, one, much broader hand gripped his suit and stayed his descent. Byakuya followed the tattoos up the arm to their owner.

"Renji, Rukia."  
"Long time, no see Byakuya." Renji said, getting an arm under him and holding him up, though by the looks of the bandages on his other arm and poking up past his collar around his neck, Renji wasn't in much better shape.

"How did you get here?" The elder Kuchki asked.

"We were coming back as soon as we heard the news yesterday. We couldn't find any of you when we got here but the staff lead us to you."

"But how did you get _here, _to the warehouse, Rukia?"

"We called the driver. He said he watched where Aizen's men went when they took Ichigo. The police should be here any minute, let's get you out of the way."

They were within the gates surrounding the warehouse. Byakuya had shot a clear path in that Renji and Rukia had followed. But any minute more of Aizen's men could show up, or the police would come and they could get stuck in the crossfire. They only made it a few feet, however, before hearing the squeal of tires on the main road, followed by the crunch of gravel as a vehicle sped along the driveway leading to the chain-link fence.

The limo never stopped. Renji crouched protectively over both Rukia and her brother as the fence came crashing down before them. Momentum carried it over the twisted metal straight to the warehouse doors.

Rukia shrieked at the impact right next to them. The doors were wood, nothing more was needed when they had the reinforcement of Aizen's reputation and the guns of his men. Splinters flew past them, a fine dust rained down in the aftermath. Renji relaxed his stance and stood, pulling a gun from the back of his pants

"Get your brother back to the car, Rukia." He instructed. "It should be clear."

"Renji no."

"We'll be joining you shortly, now go."

He didn't give her another chance to argue before running in through the hole the limo created.

Gunfire filled the warehouse. Already, the side of the limo was riddled with holes, not a single window left in it. Grimmjow was crouched in the front seat, unable to move while the bullets flew over him. Renji moved swiftly despite his healing wounds, to the rear of the limo, his eyes and gun sweeping the room and with practised precision, picked off the shooters with ease. Aizen's gaze fell to him.

"Well now, here is a face I was assured I would not see again."

"Good help," Renji grinned, reloading his gun from the cover of the limo, "it can be hard to find when you are a cold murderous bastard."

He moved down the side of the limo and came around, gun pointed at Aizen. There were more men left standing, but everyone was treating this delicately. Grimmjow got out of the car, ignoring the many cuts on his face and bare arm from the shattered glass.

Isshin was not far, tied to a chair in a terrible resemblance of his own father's demise. But Ichigo was on the ground, hands behind his back. His face was black and blue and there was something sticking in his side. It seemed Aizen's work had been interrupted before any more could be done; Ichigo would survive this.

"Get them in the car, Grimmjow." Renji ordered. Grimmjow couldn't even question his arrival, he just moved toward Ichigo.

"Stop." Aizen commanded. "You are out gunned." He said to Renji. "And _you,"_ now he looked to Grimmjow,"need to stop trying to be a hero, or I'll hand you over to your old friend." His gaze fell sideways to one of the men flanking him.

Grimmjow faltered. This was the man who had killed his father; who had ripped his face apart; who had been so dead eyed that whole night. Takeo's Aizen's handler. And now he turned to Grimmjow and grinned wide, lowering his gun and stuffing it in his belt.

"My handiwork. I do love to see how it turns out once the skin heals. The name's Omen Shinkai."

He stepped forward. Grimmjow stepped back. Renji was still outgunned, three to one and could really do nothing when Omen advanced on Grimmjow.

He swung. He missed.

Grimmjow instantly caught Omen off guard when he actually fought back. His moment of horror passed and cold hatred took over. He couldn't feel the pain in his hand, he couldn't feel the sting of this man's blows when he landed them. He felt none of it, and that was why he was winning. He ducked a swing and came up close to Omen, striking him in the chin with his head. It unbalanced him enough that Grimmjow easily toppled him, straddling him on the floor like other had once done to him.

He didn't know if it was morphine, his pain pills, his rage, or all of it combined, but he hammered down on that man's skull with his right hand, missing two fingers, until he was sputtering, bleeding and reaching in desperation for that gun.

"You son of a bitch!" Grimmjow cried again and again as he beat down on him. He took a desperate knee to the gun, but didn't falter. Shaking hands got the gun but Grimmjow trapped Omen's hand with his bandaged one.

The next moment happened so fast. One shooter shifted his aim from Renji to Grimmjow and the red head shot him to save Grimmjow. This left him open to the others a bullet tore through him shoulder, sending him to the concrete floor. Grimmjow, however, had wrenched lose Omen's gun and before a second shot could stop him, he rolled forward and came up right before Aizen, his borrowed 9mm just inches from the mob king's face.

But despite all their efforts, they were still outnumbered, they were still facing Aizen after all and they may have had illusions of success because of a few victories, but when they heard nearly the unanimous click of numerous guns, they realized just how foolish they had been. Reinforcements had arrived, the the ground swarmed with men, at least twenty of them, but in the middle of it all, Grimmjow held that gun to Aizen's head.

"There ain't a bullet in this room that can stop me killing him." Grimmjow said to those assembled. "So if you want any chance, you let the others get up and go."

No one spoke.

"You still alive, Renji?" he didn't dare take his eyes away from Aizen for a moment.

"Yeah," he heard the groan.

"Get them in the limo and get the fuck out."

He heard the grunt of Renji getting up. The scrape of a chair and Isshin was free. He ran to Ichigo and got him to his feet, removing the knife in his side.

Renji moved them back to the car slowly, every eye in the room on Grimmjow.

"You know you can't go with them." Aizen said loudly, intending for the doctor to hear.

"Of course I do."

"Grimmjow no." Isshin said. Ichigo stumbled when he came to a stop and fell against the car. The teen was covered in sweat, his skin pale and eyes hazed. He was barely conscious, and Isshin knelt at his side, holding him up, but staring at his other son. "We're not leaving without you."

"Yes!" Grimmjow said firmly. "If I move an inch they'll take their shot. You need to go, NOW!"

Isshin looked to Renji. "Help me get Ichigo in."

Renji obeyed, opening the door and helping the doctor hoist his son in the back. Ichigo lay limp on the seat. Isshin shut the door.

"Now get in the driver's seat." he instructed Renji but the other didn't budge.

"What about you?"

"I'll stay. You boys go."

"Isshin, please." Grimmjow begged, staring into Aizen's cold eyes, seeing the mockery there, and wishing only that he could stare into Isshin's instead, to make him understand. "We aren't all getting out of this. You have to think about the girls, about Ichigo. I'm dead already, there is no way out, please go, while you can."

"Grimmjow-"

"There's nothing to argue about, just go!"

Hot tears filled his eyes, it burned him deep to know Aizen was seeing them.

"Isshin, he's right." Renji said softly.

"No. How can I- how am I supposed to leave him behind?"

Renji put a hand on his shoulder. Grimmjow couldn't turn to look, but he heard the soft apology and then the quick thud. He barely caught a glimpse of Renji opening the passenger door and dropping Isshin inside.

"Grimmjow, I'm sorry." Renji's voice shook. A tear squeezed past Grimmjow's defences.

"Don't be. You saved him."

"No. You did."

"Bye Renji."  
"...bye Grimmjow."

He heard another door open and shut. The engine revved to life. It backed away, flat tires clunking over concrete. Grimmjow continued to stand with his gun on Aizen, if he heard one shot in the direction of the car, he would kill Aizen here and now. Only when they were well and truly gone, did he allow the sorrow to pass and be replaced by anger. A menacing grin took over his features as he faced the man who had tried to take everything from him.

"You let them go. But you know I'm still going to kill you."  
"Perhaps. But before giving into despair, I at least want to put to the test the speed of my gunmen against the conviction of a child to become a murderer."

"Oh, I won't become a murdered when I kill you. It's only murder if you kill a human being."

* * *

The limo came to a halt just beyond the doors. Isshin was holding his head, still dazed, and didn't what was happening when the doors flew open and men were grabbing them and pulling them out.

"It's okay, it's the doctor." Someone said and relaxed their restraining hold on Isshin but only to whisk him off in another direction. He saw the navy blue uniform and black combat boots, the heavy black vests and helmets. The police. The police had come to save them.

"Isshin." a small figure reached for him and he held Rukia back when he was finally let go. He looked around in the dark, they were shielded by vehicles now, he could see a man on the ground, someone working on patching up a wound. Byakuya.

"Where are the others?" Rukia asked frantic, looking around and Isshin did too, but Ichigo and Renji had only been separated from them to give them medical treatment. They were stretched out near Byakuya and Rukia, still holding on to Isshin, moved them closer to the paramedics. They knelt as close as they could get to the unconscious Ichigo.

"What's happening?" Isshin whispered. For all the people gathered, it was very quiet. He followed Rukia's gaze and just barely spotted the men on the roof.

"SWAT, they're going to end it, now." she whispered back.

He gasped, squeezing her tighter and then there was an explosion of light and sound as sections of the roof gave and the men dropped inside. Everyone was yelling, running, there was no way to tell if the operation was successful but Isshin just hung his head and tears flowed out his eyes and Rukia finally realized what was wrong.

"Isshin...where is Grimmjow?"

* * *

_**Thanks so much for the reviews so far. Your response has been wonderful!**_

_**Riza**_


	15. Chapter 15

"Can I get you anything, brother?" Rukia looked up to her brother in his hospital bed with tired eyes. He reached out and ran his fingers through her hair gently.

"You can rest. You haven't stopped since last night."

"I'm fine."

"No, we will all still be here when you come back. Go home, rest."

"Okay." She sighed. "If you are sure you will be okay."

"Yes Rukia, it is a hospital after all, that is their job."

She smiled. "Right."

"And don't just go to Renji's room."

She blushed but nodded. "He's sleeping anyway."

"Okay. Goodnight."

Twenty-four hours after the whole ordeal, Rukia left her brother's hospital room with the intention of going home, but she stopped when she saw Isshin in the hallway. He was exhausted, and slumped into a chair, never seeing her. He had a bloody rag in his hands and Rukia barely recognized it as a dress shirt.

"Is that...Grimmjow's?"

He looked up at her sharply, she apologized for startling him.

"Oh, Rukia...yeah," he held it up, she gasped at all the tears and holes. "nineteen bullets." Her hands shot up to cover her mouth but the door next to them burst open and they both turned.

"That's right, nineteen times and lived!" Grimmjow beamed at her, hand wrapped around an IV pole for support, mostly naked save his boxers and the bandages all over him but he was smiling ear to eat and Isshin shot to his feet to steady him.

"Grimmjow you should not be up!" He looked sideways at the bag. "I'm cutting you off of morphine."

"What?" Grimmjow asked hazily and Rukia glared up at him.

"Idiot, it doesn't count if they don't hit you."

"Oh come on." he drawled as Isshin guided him back inside. "Some of them did."

It was true, hence the many bandages on him, but they were grazes. There was only one bullet that had struck him, lodging under his collar bone and breaking it, but right now, the morphine seemed to make him forget that. Isshin sat him back on the bed, trying to regulate his drip.

"Where's Ichigo?" Grimmjow asked thickly, he was drifting and Isshin had to catch him to stop him falling forward.

"Careful. He's in the next room. I will go check on him if you promise to go to sleep."

But the body in his arms was already limp. He sighed, easing him back down and swinging his legs up.

"He's...I can't believe he made it." Rukia said, picking up the shirt Isshin had dropped, feeling the crust of blood, seeing all those holes, tears.

"He only survived because people finally took a stand."

"Isshin?"

"Nothing. Come on, I'm going to say goodnight to Ichigo and then, I would really love to see my daughters."

* * *

_**24 hours earlier**_

"It's only murder if you kill a human being."

"Bold words boy."

"No, Aizen," Grimmjow grabbed the front of the man's suit, keeping him close, the gun pressed tight over his skin. He could feel heat on his back, his whole body was burning up with the knowledge that he was going to die, be torn apart by all those bullets, but also with the knowledge that his last act on this earth would be to kill. He had shot a man, he had hurt people, he had seen people die, but he had never killed. He saw his father, he saw his mother, he saw that girl on the porch, Ichigo on the ground, Karin and Yuzu crying and he shut his eyes before it all ended.

A concussive force struck him. It seemed to hit his ears first, then ripple through his canals straight to his brain. He opened his eyes and saw Aizen struggling to shake away whatever had struck them, his eyes were unseeing, and with them both unsteady, Grimmjow lost hold of the gun in his haze. Everyone was dazed, there were black cords falling from the ceiling, men sliding down their length, guns raised, and then firing.

Grimmjow still had his hand around Aizen, and now Aizen held his arm to keep him from moving and he realized what was happening. Half the men in the room wanted Grimmjow dead but didn't want to risk killing Aizen. The other half were here to eliminate them all save Grimmjow. And so they stood in complete stillness in the centre of it all feeling the whizz of bullets tearing all around them, cutting people down, but none aimed at them.

That wasn't to say none hit them. Grimmjwo felt several tear through his calves and his back as someone fell, still firing an automatic, but it was nothing, just grazes. Aizen flinched too. He got one much worse in the shoulder and cried out, his hands digging into Grimmjow but they still didn't move. A few bullets even tore between them, in that narrow space that separated their bodies. It was an experience Grimmjow would never be able to truly describe to anyone. He stood in the greatest chaos he'd ever known, the deafening thunder of forty or more men in a battle to the death, a symphony of cries and shouts and curses and prayers. And the whole time he held on to the one man he truly hated in this world and that man held him back.

A bullet hit the cement at their feet and ricocheted up at an odd angle. Grimmjow nearly fell when it embedded just under his collar and he felt a cold pain lance through the bone. But Aizen steadied him.

"Stay up or we both die." Grimmjow couldn't see that the SWAT team were winning. He didn't know that Aizen held onto him, knowing he was his only chance at getting out of this. He did, however, get the hint, when the gun fire ceased, and a last body fell, and then someone called out in a strong, official sounding voice that it was time for Aizen to let go of the kid.

Grimmjow smiled, and dropped his hand but Aizen kept a firm grasp on him. They were both in a state. The back of their clothes shredded by bullets that had missed them, their fronts stained by he ones that hadn't.

Sweat gleaned on their faces, neither could entirely hide the pain they were in, but neither could give the other the satisfaction of seeing it fully.

"Let him go!" the voice boomed, the guns were on them.

"Sure." Aizen smiled, though his hand was still locked on Grimmjow's arm. "Take me in boys. Arrest me, I'll play your little game." He let go of Grimmjow now, and held up his hands to show he was unarmed.

"Come on then, arrest me."

Grimmjow stood there, feeling the silence, feeling the thoughts of all the other men in the room. Yes, arrest him, and then what? These twenty men they had taken down today were nothing compared to the vastness of his network, of corrupt cops, lawyers, bought judges and officials, other soldiers just waiting in the ranks to fill in the positions of these ones.

"I said arrest me!" Aizen yelled again, and Grimmjow knew he could see it too. Everyone was still aiming at Aizen, the SWAT leader before them, gun stiff in the crook of his arm.

"ARREST ME! You have to! I'm not armed. You want your little rules, then you have to follow them. You have to take me in."

Finally the SWAT leader spoke. "I thought the rules didn't apply to you." He tightened his grip on his gun, Aizen watched him glance at his men, the collective agreement that went through them all.

"CONCEALED WEAPON!" The SWAT leader cried, there was a unanimous burst of fire, a burn of gunpowder lingered in the air, the smoke creating a thick haze, and Sosuke Aizen dropped onto the warehouse floor before Grimmjow, his body riddled with holes, as mutilated as his mother's had been crushed under that forklift.

Men swarmed past him to check the body, people were spreading out to remove the weapons from the other men, check for survivors. But Grimmjow just stood there, staring at the man reduced to a pile of oozing flesh, feeling nothing, not the burn of the nineteen bullets that had marked his body, not the throb of his ruined hand, and not the slightest emotion after all that had happened. That was, until he heard a voice screaming from the entrance, someone fighting their way past officers and SWAT members. A poor father, a doctor, and all he could see was the figure standing like a zombie, back to him, strained red almost from head to foot,

"Grimmjow..."

Someone must have decided to let him past. Isshin slowed when he got to him, afraid that if he touched him it would all become real, he would fall down, he would feel the pain, some terrible wound would become apparent and he would die. But as he moved around before him, he saw the body of Soskue Aizen and how blue eyes were stuck on it.

"Grimmjow." He moved into his line of sight, he saw the wound under his collar bone, he saw how much the boy was shaking from blood loss now, but he still didn't seem to feel any of it. Still, that dead stare faltered when he saw the man he'd fought to reach, and he suddenly felt like a boy again, and not someone hardened by month of turmoil, torture. He felt young and naked, and exposed to the horror of everything that just happened. And when Isshin reached a shaking hand to grip his face he burst into tears and held tight to the man he loved and trusted, the only person who could save him from this nightmare.

And in the midst of all those bodies, of bullet casings and blood, Isshin just held him back, and he knew that his two sons had saved an entire city that night.

* * *

The doctor wound the bandage tighter around Ichigo's head, keeping the padding tight over where his ear should be. But that was the last of it, and Isshin came in with a wheel chair, the girls in tow.

"All set?" He asked Ichigo's doctor.

"I'll see him in a week and we'll talk about what kind of options we have."

"Good." They helped Ichigo into the chair, he was healing up well, but the wound in his side was still very tender.

"What about Grimmjow?" Ichigo asked.

"He'll be fine, they're going to release him in a couple of days."

Grimmjow had crashed hard after they eased up on the morphine. He hadn't just succumbed to the physical pain of so many wounds- he had returned to the reality of what had happened. Their victory over Aizen seemed to be slipping away with Grimmjow mental state. Isshin hadn't been there to see him break down in his absence, over his mother, at his father's grave, and Ichigo was worried that now that there was nothing left to fight, Grimmjow would cave to those emotions, to that darkness, especially now that he had a taste of it. Ichigo had never known such terror as when Aizen had started to torture him in the warehouse. The whole time all he could see was that same scene he and his father had walked in on at the Jaggerjaque household. He didn't want his father to endure that same horror of watching his son torn to pieces in front of him. He didn't want his sisters to know what had happened to him. He didn't want Grimmjow to have to live with that.

But he had made it out with minor injuries, his family had survived, and he had a stability Grimmjow did not, so, though he had nightmares every time he fell asleep, though his thoughts drifted back to those terrifying moments, he never felt that disconnect he had seen in Grimmjow a number of times.

And when he was home, with his family, with his sisters' joyfully waiting on him and his father hand and foot and not allowing them out of their sight he knew he would recover for them.

* * *

The story broke. Grimmjow never said anything about what happened in Aizen's final moment. Isshin was the only person he ever told. The official story was that he pulled a gun on Grimmjow, suicide by police- the hollow king had known it was his end and had gone down in a blaze of gunfire rather than go to jail.

The story of the Benefit was everywhere. So many witnesses, the story was told from a hundred different perspectives, but they missed two very important ones. Reporters came to the hospital, but none were allowed admittance to see Grimmjow. At the clinic, they met Isshin's stoney face and the door was slammed shut on them. No one every knew the whole story, even if they knew most. But Ichigo and Grimmjow could never return to life as normal now. It was all out there in the open. They were the "Sons of Karakura" who had set the city free- as the paper read.

Aizen's son was awaiting trial. The woman Grimmjow had saved testified. He was sentenced to prison. The Aizen Empire was dead. Byakuya bought up several of Aizen's old properties, Isshida the others. That was another story: the three who had stood up. The one who had fallen. It seemed so unreal to Ichigo that after all their risks, after every torture he and Grimmjow, Renji and Byakuya had endured, it was Isshida who ended up in a wheel-chair, maybe for the rest of his life. One bullet, after all the ones they had taken- the nineteen that had torn through Grimmjow's clothes- one bullet had nearly take Uryu's life, and maybe taken his ability to walk.

"At least I still have my looks," Uryu had jibed when Ichigo showed up, guilty, to visit him. He smiled, touching his bandaged ear, and knowing that the hard teen would survive this, just like he dealt with everything, practically, calmly.

Renji enjoyed the status of returning from the dead for a while. It had been generally accepted that Aizen had killed him. He was part of the brotherhood now, part of the group that had stood up against the evil. He didn't enjoy having his life delved into however, and gladly accepted Byakuya's offer to stay with him and Rukia in the mansion. He was released shortly, the wound in his shoulder was uncomplicated and easily stitched up by the doctors, but he had suffered terrible wounds before, and hadn't gotten the proper treatment so he still needed time to rest. Rukia happily took brother and boyfriend home with her and made it her mission to care for them both.

It seemed everyone was back to where they were meant to be, but as Ichigo had feared, one person remained in hospital.

* * *

"You once asked me if I lived here, now i feel like I should ask you the same thing."

It was midnight, but time didn't matter quite as much in a place like this. Grimmjow sat stiffly in a chair at the cafeteria, he had on white pants but nothing to cover his scored back except the bandages.

His arm was in a sling to hold his collar bone in place while it healed and at the end of the sling was his thickly bandaged hand. He'd gotten the grafts he'd needed- graciously donated from his own thigh- his hand would recover, though not easily and not without extensive rehab. His other hand was bandaged too, he only had three fingers, and he'd broken them all when he'd pounded Omen into the ground. But despite everything, and the continuing pain that twinged in his back, he was able to walk around on his own, an unpleasant complication for his poor doctors who could never seem to find him in his room. They'd had to take him off morphine entirely, half at his own request when he found himself wanting to crank the dose every time he was left alone. He didn't know it was so addicting, his memories of the warehouse were tied into that same high, that feeling of invincibility he'd gained. He was in alot of pain, but he endured it to try to stay sane.

Because it was his sanity he was really worried about.

He looked up at Uryu's voice, he didn't really know how long he'd been sitting here when the teen rolled over to him.

"Grimmjow?"

"Yeah, Uryu, I heard you." It seemed he wasn't in the mood for their normal banter this evening.

"You know any other patient would have been admitted to the psych ward by now?"

"Yeah. Do I have you to thank for that, then?"

"No. My dad, really. Or maybe everyone. I know you haven't given the world outside this building a second thought, Grimmjow, but they've made you into a hero. No one wants to find out that hero is losing his mind."

"Oh."

"Hey, if anyone should be depressed, it's me, I might never walk again."

Grimmjow considered this. "Am I depressed? Is that what this is?"

Uryu sighed. He and Grimmjow weren't exactly friends, but they were something, comrades, maybe, in all of this. He had stood up for Grimmjow, after all, at the expense of his legs. And he was stuck in this place too, now, more so than before. They were bonded by their fight with Aizen, by how he'd killed both of their mothers, and by the walls of this hospital.

"I think they're saying you have Post Traumatic Stress, haven't your doctors talked to you about it?"

"I can't remember." the blue haired teen said almost desperately. "When they talk to me, it's like their words just bounce back. I don't think I was this stupid before, it's like I can't even process things anymore, and I can't remember conversations I have. I don't even remember when Isshin was here last."

"He comes everyday."

"I know. See I know that, I know where my room is, and my doctor's name and I know where I am right now, but as soon as someone starts explaining something new to me I can't retain it."

"Grimmjow, they've got you on some pretty heavy duty meds, it's probably a side effect. Besides, if it is PTSD, those sound like symptoms. It will all pass."

"I don't know how long I've been here."

"It's been eighteen days since the warehouse."

"Right." he sighed and looked at Uryu straight on for the first time. "Uryu, do you hate us?"

"What?"

"We put everyone there in danger. And it was-that's how your mother died, right? I mean, you poor father, he almost lost you the exact same way, because of us."

Uryu didn't answer right away. He couldn't deny the similarity hadn't been painful for him and his father. "No Grimmjow, I don't hate you. But it was a bit tasteless."

He was surprised that Grimmjow actually smiled at this. He chuckled too. Then blue eyes took him in in a piercing gaze he had rarely been the butt of and he knew Grimmjow was seeing clearly in this moment.

"It's late, Uryu."

"Yes."

"So you have the nightmares too." Uryu was not used to others turning their perception on him as he always did to them, but he didn't deny. Grimmjow just nodded. "Word of advice, just take the sleeping pills." Grimmjow stood up. "See ya."

* * *

Finding Grimmjow at any one time became a bit of a challenge for any doctor or visitor who came looking for him as his physical health improved. But everyone did seem to be in agreement that the psych ward was not the right place for him. The staff were used to it, he became sort of part of their lives. Mostly he would gravitate to the cafeteria and just sit there, staring at people going through, occasionally drinking a coffee he probably wasn't supposed to have. Uryu usually found him there, as did Isshin when he came to visit, or Ichigo, or any of his friends. And the nurse with his pills or his meals. He could spend nearly the whole day in silence, but he seemed to like being around other people, people who didn't know him or notice him or talk to him. People who were normal, unconnected to anything that had happened- although in a way everyone had been affected if they were from Karakura.

He had no desire to leave. He didn't want to go home while he felt like this. Neither did he want to be moved into more permanent care. But there was one significant draw back to being at the hospital. There had been at least a hundred people at that party, many of them part of the hospital staff. Dr. Belle, his psychiastrist, had been among them. Grimmjow hadn't known at the time, but she was unable to hide it from him and when he found out, that was it. She had watched Aizen burn him, watched him hurt Ichigo. Grimmjow couldn't trust her with his mental state, and he had started to lose his trust with the others. No one was able to work with him long enough to establish his patterns except for Uryu, who, in there long silences, had probably deduced more about his mentality than anyone.

"So you feel betrayed." He said one day in the cafeteria after Grimmjow had gone through another failed session with a new psychiatrist.

"Don't you?" Grimmjow countered. "Don't you get angry when you think about how they all let you stand alone?"

"No."

Grimmjow tensed, staring over the table at him.

"I don't believe you."

"I don't, Grimmjow."

"Don't fucking lie to me." He half shouted, not noticing that other people in the cafeteria looked around alarmed. He had no idea what time of day it was since the cafeteria was always open, and people were always around, day or night, he just lost that sort of concept.

"Grimmjow calm down." It was rare for him to have any sort of outburst, and Uryu realized he may have found the nerve of Grimmjow's problems.

"Those motherfuckers just stood there!" He screamed now, standing up. "How do you forgive that? How do you pretend that didn't happen?"

"So that's it then? That's why you stay in here, because the hospital is like it's own little world, separate from the city you think betrayed you? But if you had stood there, and some other fool had stood up to him, and you had Karin and Yuzu with you, or Ichigo, or Isshin, someone you didn't want to get hurt, would you have stepped forward? Would you have risked _their_ lives for a stranger?"

"I did! For that girl! I put her ahead of my family and Ichigo lost his ear for it."

This was not what Uryu had expected. Grimmjow dropped back into his seat. "I started it all, for some stranger. I could have gotten the Kurosakis killed."

"Do you really feel guilty over that?"

"I don't know."

"You don't want to go home to them, because you feel like you betrayed them?"

"I said I don't know." He went to stand, Uryu had a brief moment of thinking he'd had some sort of breakthrough, that all of this could be put down to some feeling deep inside Grimmjow, and then someone dropped a metal tray, dishes cracked on the ground, and he watched the noise hit Grimmjow like a physical force, and he knew it was much deeper than conflicted feelings when the teen hit the floor. Yes, Uryu had known incredible pain when he'd been shot, and terror and the ongoing fear of not knowing if he would walk again- but he could never begin to understand what it had been like to be in that warehouse when the guns went off, when the man who'd killed his parents held him there as a human shield and he held him back, and when twenty armed soldiers had cut down the monster right before him.

He watched Grimmjow where he knelt, hand clutching his chest, eyes far away, back in that moment. He started to warn the person who ran to help not to touch him but when he saw the doctor he stopped. Karin and Yuzu stayed back with their brother as Isshin got his arms around Grimmjow and tried to bring him back to the present.

He watched Grimmjow's body tense, his arm gripping onto Isshin like a lifeline in the moment of some terror flashing back to him, his head tight in the crook of Isshin's neck.

Grimmjow may have saved Isshin from Aizen's captivity, but it was clear that Isshin would have to be the one to save Grimmjow form Azien's memory.

* * *

_**So as you can see, there is a bit more to this one before it's finished. I am trying to wrap it up though, since I am deep into a new Grimmjow and Ichigo fic, as well as my own original work that has finally gotten to a place where I like it. Who knows, maybe I will be a real author soon! Anyway, this one is all written, it's just a matter of editing it so look for more soon! Thanks for the reviews so far!**_

_**Riza**_


	16. Chapter 16

"I'm sorry Isshin." Grimmjow let Isshin guide him onto his bed where he sat on the edge with his guardian's hands on his shoulders.

"For what?"

"Scaring the girls, you guys came to see me and-"

"Don't apologize, Grimmjow." He pulled him into him again, "but I think you should be with us."

"What? No." Grimmjow pulled back at once.

"Why not, Grimmjow?"

"I don't want to be like this around them. I don't want to bring this with me."

"But we don't know how long it will take to get better. And I don't like leaving you here."

"Not yet, Isshin."

The doctor sighed. "Okay.

* * *

Uryu didn't see Grimmjow for two days after the incident. Though he wouldn't have admitted it to the other, he actually started looking for him, getting quite the workout in his chair. Finally he went to his room, normally the last place you would find him, but there he was, laying on his back, knee up and a hand over his eyes. Uryu never let on he was there.

It was another day before he saw him again, sitting at a table in the cafeteria with a crossword book and a pencil chewed nearly through.

"You know you could eat something more appetizing than that pencil."

"Yeah? Where?" Uryu was surprised to get a joke out of him and actually laughed. He looked to the blank crossword.

"Not doing too good."

"I..." Grimmjow's smile faded. "Uryu, none of the words make sense."

"You can't solve them?"

"No, I mean..." He pointed to the clue, containing nothing too challenging, and then he wiped a hand over his face, biting into the pencil again. "I can't read those words." He mumbled out.

"Oh." Uryu was no doctor, but he knew mental trauma could have some pretty weird side effects. "Did you tell your doctors?"

"I haven't read anything for ages. Someone gave this to me today and it's the first time I realized. What does it mean?"

"Grimmjow, I really think you need to talk to your doctor."  
"I know." He spit out the pencil and covered his eyes with his hand in frustration, "But every time they talk I get confused. I can't keep everything straight in my head."

He heard his voice breaking.

"Do you want me to call Isshin?"

"No. He keeps coming here and I'm not getting better and I don't want him to see anymore! Yesterday he came and I just cried the whole time and I don't know why. I don't know what's happening in my own head anymore."

Uryu didn't know what to say, Grimmjow took a few breaths trying to get calm but it wasn't doing much good. "I just don't understand," he whispered, "Aizen is dead, and I have everything I wanted, Ichigo, Isshin and the girls are fine. Even Renji turned out to be okay—then why is this happening?"  
"Because no matter how good the outcome, it doesn't erase everything that happened to you, Grimmjow."

"If it had happened to Ichigo, he wouldn't be like this."

"Why would you say that? There is no way to know that."

"It's just who he is, he would never break like this." He sighed and sat back looking down at the crossword. "Here, enjoy."  
He left Uryu there, at least this time there was no shouting or flashbacks. Uryu glanced to the clock and knew Isshin would be here soon, and he always found Grimmjow here, so he waited for the doctor to arrive and explained what had happened, about the crossword and Grimmjow's other thoughts.

Isshin found him face down on his bed even though it must have hurt his arm. He was crying again, and he just sat on the side of the bed and put a hand on his back to show his support. Grimmjow's shoulder blades were sticking out much more than they should have, his ribs were even prominent on his body that had always been muscular, even when he'd been laid up so long after the torture.

But it had all caught up to him- the physical toll _and _the mental. His back was riveted with thin scars, his arms too and no doubt his legs. He remembered when Grimmjow was a little boy, how strong he had been even then, always bigger than Ichigo physically, made him look older, and that was the role he had taken in their friendship. But even still, there had been times he'd hurt himself bad enough, or gotten so upset over something his father had done or said, Isshin would catch him crying. Back then he could pick him up, hold him. He could erase his pain so easily with a few kind words, or promises. And in vain he wished that one of those times he'd picked him up he'd never let him go and maybe none of this would have happened. Maybe they all could have led normal lives and Grimmjow never would have suffered what he had.

But now, every time Grimmjow saw him he bur,st into tears and apparently even the thought of his arrival made him cry. He hadn't been able to fathom what brought this on, but Uryu's words today had clarified things for him. It didn't take much probing to hear the words from Grimmjow himself and if Ichigo had been with him he would have known how familiar they were.

"I don't want you to see me like this." Grimmjow finally admitted. Ichigo had explained that he'd been like this when he'd injured his back and found out about his mother.

"Grimmjow, it's me."

"But we saved you." His words were almost lost in his pillow.

"Yes you did. So why don't you want to see me?"

"No...I don't want _you _to see _me." _

"Grimmjow, I'm missing the point."

"Why do you come here?" Grimmjow shoved himself up now, sitting back on his knees on the bed. He just stared at the wall as he spoke, his face was pale, his eyes red.

"How can you even ask me that question?"

He shut his eyes and shook his head. "I don't know." He sounded lost, he didn't really know what he was saying anymore. "I'm so tired." He breathed out finally. But Isshin knew he wasn't saying he wanted to sleep.

"Then come home, Grimmjow. Being here is draining you."

"No. I'm tired of being me. I'm tired of being like this. But if I have to be like this I'll do it here."

"With strangers?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I want to be happy when I go home. But right now I...Isshin I can't even imagine a time when I can feel something like happiness again and I don't understand why! You're here! You're alive! So why do I feel like this?" He'd gotten worked up, Isshin expected him to fall into his pillow again, or break down, but he just continued to sit there and stare at the wall.

"I want you to try talking to a psychiatrist again."

"You know why it doesn't work." His voice was low and tired sounding.

"I'm going, you know." This did get a reaction.

"What?"

"I am going to therapy as well. I know that I did not suffer anything near what you did but I need it, because we all went through something other people can't even imagine."

"And the girls?"

"Yes, there is someone at the school who sees them. And Ichigo. We all go Grimmjow, it means we realize we need a little help to get past this."

"But I'm willing to try, it's just not working."

"I have someone I would like to talk to, but I think they might be a good fit for you."

"Oh. Okay."

"Are you alright?"

"Isshin...I can't read."

He knew, Uryu had also told him this."We'll figure it out." He promised.

Grimmjow sniffed but nodded to the wall. "Okay."

* * *

Isshin arranged for Grimmjow to meet with the person he'd had in mind. Yes, it was another psychiatrist, but this one was specifically for police and military personnel- someone who specialized in situations when a police officer killed someone, or faced certain death, or lost a partner, or go caught up in a shootout, or war severely injured. It was unusual, but everyone seemed to be willing to make exceptions for Grimmjow, and since he had kept the SWAT team's secret of how Aizen was actually killed, he figured they owed him.

Grimmjow agree to meet with him, but asked Isshin to stay away for a while. Though painful for Isshin, it was what Grimmjow really wanted. He wanted Isshin to see him improving, not breaking down everyday, he wanted to do this on his own.

Uryu definitely noticed the change. It wasn't that Grimmjow was suddenly getting better, but in finally getting a doctor he could trust, and making the decision to keep Isshin and the others away, he had somewhere deep down decided he _was_ going to get better, and Grimmjow, maybe even more than Ichigo, was the most determined person Uryu knew. As he saw Grimmjow make more and more steps to getting better, he finally said something to him.

"Don't you think it's time for you to go home now? Don't you think you're ready to walk out of here?"

Grimmjow looked down at his wrist, the plastic band with his own name on it and the date of admittance. He didn't know what day it was today, but he was pretty sure it was a different month. He looked over at Uryu's wrist, his own bracelet just as old.

"I'll walk out of here when you do."

At first anger crossed over Uryu's features, but then he saw no joke in Grimmjow's eyes, and he considered.

"Okay," he held out his hand, "it's a deal."

Grimmjow grasped back firmly, "Good."

* * *

Grimmjow's arm came out of the sling, it was stiff, but it was his hand that really needed the work. He still had to keep it bandaged up, but they had him do a number of exercises ever day to retrain muscles that had been severely damaged. He was surprised by a visit from the surgeon, he had completely forgotten that Isshin had scheduled his back surgery so long ago. The surgeon just wanted to let him know he kept his name on the list for when he was up for it. He had to get released, first though.

He went to the cafeteria as usual, not even realizing it was eleven o'clock at night, he could have easily believed it was in the morning. There were still people sitting around, drinking coffee, eating, talking, crying.

"What day is it?" Uryu asked in a way that Grimmjow knew it was a test.

"What? I don't know."

"What time is it?"

"Uryu, I don't know."

"Well, you should, if you want to leave here with me, then you need to start thinking in terms of the world outside of this hospital."

"What, are you getting better?"

"I'm making progress, I'll show you later if you do well."

"Do well in what?"

"Sit down." Grimmjow didn't really like being told what to do but this was at least kind of intriguing so he complied.

"Good. Now," Uryu held out a deck of cards, but not playing cards, they were colourful, with pictures on them and words. "Flash cards," he said.

"Did you steal those from the pediatrics department?"

"I borrowed them Grimmjow, jeeze. Now," He held up a card, "What is it?"

"Are you serious? It's a cat, Uryu, I can see the picture."

"Look at the letters."

"They still look like gibberish."

"Well maybe you're just going to have to learn to read gibberish."

It was true. The doctors had thrown around a lot of terms about aphasia, alexia, all things Grimmjow knew nothing about. They had done head scans looking for brain trauma and in the end Grimmjow felt no more informed on what had happened to him than before, and they had concluded that he may regain full ability to read and write again or he may simply have to relearn. What frustrated Grimmjow was that it didn't feel like he just forgot, it felt like letters had transformed into something foreign.

But he did it. He sat there and went through the deck with Uryu. He knew the poor teen was going crazy in here- an intellect like him needed to be occupied with a challenge and so he told himself he let Uryu teach him out of pity, but after enough time he couldn't really use that lie anymore.

It took him longer to realize that Uryu had worked him into a routine. Everyday they met at the same time, even if the agreement had never been spoken. They went through the flashcards and other exercises, then they would go the training room, which was not supposed to be used by patients unsupervised but no one seemed to notice them at 1am in the dark. Grimmjow helped Uryu get up to the training bars, he was able to put about fifty percent of his weight down now. But there were alot of other little things Uryu needed to do to get those muscles back and he taught Grimmjow how to help him with them.

So that, coupled with his appointments with the psychiatrist, his meals, and his pill times, and now actually having a reason to be tired when he went back to his room in the small hours of the morning- had created a schedule he followed everyday, a routine to establish normalcy.

And then came the day that there was a knock at his door and instead of a voice calling up to him there was one floating down while he still tried wake himself up.

"You better get packing," Uryu said, his hands locked into two waist high crutches but otherwise standing on his own. "I'm going home at the end of the week."

"Fuck, then I better call Isshin." He groaned with a smile, too tired to think about the implications for himself, but unable to deny the satisfaction of seeing Uryu on the mend after their many long nights in the rehab centre.

"So you okay with this?"

"Promise is a promise." He just rolled over and pulled the covers back over his face.

"Good."

* * *

It had been seventeen days since any of the family had seen him. Isshin had called several times, but Grimmjow always said he just needed to do this alone. They saw quite a change in him, some of it good, some of it bad. Even if those changes had taken place over a longer period of time, it had been two and half weeks since they'd seen him and they had forgotten.

His hair was wild, long, framing a face that was far too thin. Despite every improvement he'd made, Grimmjow was still taking alot of medications with alot of side effects and loss of appetite had been a problem for him for a long time. Probably for the first time in their lives Ichigo easily outweighed him. But his eyes were different, they could all see the amount of confidence that had been restored in the last couple of weeks, both with Uryu and the special psychologist. He still got confused if a conversation got to medical, to complex and too long, but for the most part, he was getting past that problem. The alexia, however, remained, and truly put the end to any hope of returning to school. But really, that had been out of the question for a long time now.

His hand was still bandaged, his arm a bit stiff, but he was able to pull on the hoody Isshin had brought him and even lace up his shoes himself. So, for all those cuts and all the bandages they'd seen, his wounds were causing him little problems now.

"So you aren't backing out?" The cold voice startled them all.

"Uryu!" Ichigo hadn't seen him standing yet and was unaware of the agreement between him and Grimmjow.

"Hi, Ichigo."

"I can't believe it. So you're going to be okay?"

"Of course. I should be back at school next week."

"Wow, that's amazing. Are you leaving too?" He asked, noticing he was fully dressed himself.

"Yeah."

"All set." Grimmjow said walking forward, "time to do this."

The four of them took the elevator down, Isshin had already signed what he needed to and gotten everything ready. Uryu's father met them in the lobby. And like they'd promised each other, Uryu and Grimmjow walked out of the hospital together.

* * *

"So, Ichigo, what did they say about your ear?"

"It's gone."

Grimmjow rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know that, but they were going to look at plastic surgery weren't they?"

"Yeah, it's not for me."

Grimmjow raised an eyebrow and then caught the look on Isshin's face and immediately dropped the subject. Of course, plastic surgery was expensive and he couldn't imagine what building a whole ear would cost.

"I'll just grow my hair out like yours."

"Ichigo, no don't!" Yuzu protested and then blushed when she realized how that sounded. Grimmjow grinned.

"What, you don't like my hair?" He asked.

"Well...it's kind of..." she made a waving motion around her head and they all chuckled.

"I guess I might need a hair cut then, you think you could help me out with that?" Her eyes went wide and the biggest smile spread over her face.

"Really?"

"Sure, why not?"

* * *

Grimmjow was becoming increasingly less sure of himself as both sisters now in on the job swirled around him with trays of instruments like they were about to perform surgery. They had found every comb, brush, clip, pair of scissors in the house and he sat in a chair with a table cloth draped around him, Ichigo leaning on the counter with the cockiest grin he'd ever seen.

"Just remember, it was your idea." He said to blue haired teen.

"Yeah."

"Okay, all set!" A step stool was shoved next to the chair and Yuzu was suddenly eye level with him. He sat as still as possible as the two sister attacked his blue mane. They worked away without pause until they came to the front. Grimmjow had for a long time now, kept one side of his hair longer to cover up the scars. He saw Karin hesitating to ask him.

"Cut it."

She nodded and they finished their work in a few more minutes.

"There you go." They both held up the mirror and he stared back at himself.

"Oh my gosh."

Both girls cringed but then Grimmjow took the mirror himself to hold it closer. "You girls are amazing! Wow, look how good a job you did!"

They were ecstatic to say the least. Grimmjow was only partially embellishing. Isshin's steady, precise hands must be genetic because they had in fact managed to give him a pretty good haircut, very similar to the way he wore it before everything happened. It was true that there was nothing to mask those scars now, that disfigured half of his face, but he was done worrying about that. If he could call Aizen out in front of Karakura's top brass, he could show them he true face as well.

"Thank you, girls, so much."

* * *

Grimmjow had his surgery rescheduled tentatively for two months time, on the condition that he get back some of his weight. Isshin definitely did his best to over feed him but after so long of not having an appetite it was a very slow process. His metabolism was all over the place, it would simply take time.

But one thing he did enjoy was going for walks every day. He spent several hours working on reading, praying every day that he would look down at the page and it would all suddenly make sense, but he knew that was probably not going to happen. Like Uryu had told him, he would simply have to learn "gibberish," and thanks to the bright teen, he was already well on his way. Then when Ichigo go home the two of them would go for a walk and quite often Renji and Rukia would join them. Orihime, too, seemed to be coming along more frequently and Grimmjow immediately started harping on Ichigo again to 'make his move.'

They walked by the bridge. Grimmjow had been warned that places with bad memories could trigger flashbacks but this place did not, he wasn't really sure why. If he could still go to his dad's house then why should this place bother him? It was really more those noises he didn't expect, or a sudden flash of light- he couldn't go anywhere like a movie theatre, with loud noises and strobe light effects. Someone had explained to him that there was a neurological component to all this, but he hadn't really understood so he just accepted it with the knowledge that this symptom would pass someday as well.

His friends did alot to help him readjust. It was important that he not lock himself in the house like he had at the hospital. However, he didn't seem to be trying to do that. He just didn't really like going places like the mall, when he saw people who recognized him and Ichigo, when they heard that murmur of quiet whispers. Ichigo had gotten used it and it had faded because he was out in public everyday, but not Grimmjow. He remembered what Uryu had said in the hospital: that the world outside hadn't forgotten him.

He resented it at first, until Byakuya called and invited the family over to thought nothing of it, but the Kuchki heir had something for them.

"I have been contacted by a number of people since the day of Aizen's death." He began. "People who were at the benefit, people who saw what happened, and even people who didn't. Some of them saw you in the hospital, Grimmjow, sitting in the cafeteria everyday. Mr. Isshida and I have dealt with all of this, and I thought it was time to present to you the outcome."

No one spoke. They couldn't tell what was coming.

"I know that despite what coverage you may have, your medications, your specialists- it costs. You don't need to worry about that. It's all be taken care of."

"What?" Isshin exclaimed.

"People have been very generous, as has Mr. Isshida. But there something else. The members of the benefit committee got together. One of them, is a plastic surgeon. We would like to offer both of you boys complete plastic surgery."

The statement was met with silence. Everyone was still processing this. The people of Karakura had come together to do this for them? It was alot to take in.

Grimmjow stood suddenly and Ichigo felt his building joy falter, not knowing what sort of reaction he might have.

"Grimmjow?" Isshin stood slowly, also unsure of what he was thinking.

"Is...can they do that?" Grimmjow finally asked, "I mean..." he put a hand over the mutilated skin. He hadn't really thought there was anything to work with anyway.

"I think so, Grimmjow. I mean, I don't know that it would ever be exactly the way it was, but I am sure they could do alot."

"They can." Byakuya said.

"And Ichigo's ear?"

Byakuya nodded. Rukia finally allowed herself to smile. Renji let out a laugh and Ichigo stood up too, coming around the table to shake Byakuya's hand.

"Thank you, so much."

"Thank your city, Ichigo, because this is them thanking you."

* * *

Grimmjow hammered the sign into the ground and stepped back. It had taken alot of work to get his father's house ready for market, but it was finally done. Spring was coming, Ichigo's graduation was in a week. Just in time for him to get used to his new ear.

Grimmjow himself was still getting used to not having to worry about the pain in his back flaring up anymore. He had lost a bit of feeling in the area, but he could move freely now, exert his body the way a young man should be able to. His muscles were finally starting to fill out a bit more, his skin the colour it should be. And shortly, he too would be getting the surgery that would change his face, would erase at least one of the many reminders on his body of what Aizen had done to him.

"Yo, Grimm, how do I look?" He turned to see Ichigo grinning, the bandage that had been wound around his head since surgery was removed for the first time.

Grimmjow immediately pulled a face, "eew."

"HEY!"

"Just kidding, Ichigo, you'd never know."

"Yeah, I'm pretty impressed."

"Well, I guess they can do pretty much anything if you have the money."

"Yeah. So, you're really going to sell it?"

"Uh huh."

"Are you sure you want to?"

"Yes, Ichigo. It's not my home anymore. And I don't want it to stand here, unchanged forever, though I don't think it will sell anytime soon- there's a lot of work to be done on it and, well, everyone knows what happened in there."

Ichigo couldn't deny that it would be pretty hard for anyone to forget that history. He and Isshin had bleached the floor in the living room two weeks ago, but those were stains that couldn't really be removed.

"So, how did you do on your college entrance exam?" Grimmjow asked, heading back inside.

"Good enough I guess." He shrugged. "Karakura University in the fall."

It was no surprise, as long as he didn't score too low, there was little to stand in the way of that plan. He had missed alot of time, but he was bright, and he was finishing the year impressively.

"Grimmjow, have you given any thought to what you want to do?"

"Tons, but I still haven't figured it out. I guess I have get my high school diploma first." They stepped inside and Grimmjow noticed the time. "Oh shit, I have to get to the hospital for my first meeting with the plastic surgeon."  
"I'll drive you." In their crisis, Grimmjow had been illegally driving. Now, though, he would have to wait until he actually got his drivers' licence.

"Thanks."

They pulled their shoes back on and the phone rang. "Leave it," Ichigo said, "Answering machine will get it." They shut and locked the door, hurrying down the front steps. The machine clicked on and an urgent voice echoed out in the empty kitchen.

"This is Officer Deufreyn, please call me back as soon as you get this message. I am calling to inform you that Takeo Aizen has just made bail."

* * *

**_A last bit of excitement on the way, but I think the next chapter will be the last. _**

**_Riza_**


	17. Chapter 17

Isshin and the girls arrived home after Karin's soccer game to find the door wide open, the handle clearly broken.

"Someone broke in." Karin whispered, pulling her sister close. "But there's no car."

Isshin nodded, "stay here." He stepped in just enough to get a look around. The place looked untouched.

"He could still be here, we should call the police."

"What if Ichigo and Grimmjow are in there?"

He frowned, it was a possibility that they were in trouble. "Go to the neighbour's and ask them to call the police."

"Okay."

He watched his daughters cross the street and then stepped back into the house. He saw it right away: the magnets from the fridge lying on the floor, some of the pictures fallen off, but what he was focusing on was the scrap of paper that was left dangling from what had been ripped off. The orange slip the hospital had sent to remind Grimmjow of his appointment.

"Who would..." but he saw the flashing light on the phone, hit the play back button and he felt the world crashing down around him.

* * *

"How was it?" Ichigo asked, throwing his empty coffee cup in the trash and standing up from his seat in the cafeteria.

"Fine. He is very optimistic that he can make me pretty again," Grimmjow grinned, "I just have to-" Grimmjow froze before Ichigo. He heard someone scream, and then people were standing up, trying to run, but a shock wave of thunder stopped them all. A second shot fired, straight up, shattering one of the lights and sending glass onto screaming bystanders.

"Grimmjow Jaggerjaques." Ichigo felt something press against the back of his head, "and Ichigo Kurosaki. The ones I have to thank for my father's death."

"Ichigo..." Grimmjow strained.

"Oh, that's right," Takeo hissed, "This was the kid you were fighting with through the door that day. You were pretty desperate to save him, weren't you?" His grip around the trigger tightened.

"Don't." Grimmjow begged, Ichigo was staring straight back at him, unable to move. His eyes were hard, not showing the true terror inside of him.

"And why shouldn't I? You're the reason my father is dead!"  
"Reason?" Grimmjow sputtered, tearing his gaze from Ichigo's and looking past him to the bastard son. _"Reason?_ _YOUR_ FATHER SENT _YOU_ TO KILL _MY_ FATHER! And you did! You egotistical, arrogant, bastard! You have no right to want revenge!"

Ichigo didn't know if Grimmjow lost it on purpose to draw the gun from him or not, but the moment the barrel wandered from the back of his head he elbowed Takeo wherever he could- he thought maybe it was his neck- and Grimmjow leaped forward to topple him.

The gun went off. Grimmjow collapsed.

"Grimmjow?"

"Don't move!" Takeo had righted himself and had the gun trained on Ichigo again but the teen was staring down at Grimmjow.

He hadn't been hit, the bullet had shattered the doughnut display case on the other side of the room. But Ichigo remembered the day someone had dropped the tray in here and how that had floored Grimmjow. The gun had gone off right next to his head, one hand was covering that ear, the other was twisted in the front of his shirt while he struggled to breath.

"GRIMMJOW!"

"I said don't move!" Ichigo felt the ringing blow of cold metal against the back of his skull, he fell on his hand and knees next to Grimmjow, a hot stream oozing down the back of his neck. Takeo Aizen stood over the two, hand shaking on the trigger, his whole body looked like an electric current was running through it.

"You two will pay for what you did."

There was nothing they could do. Grimmjow was consumed by the panic attack and Ichigo was trying to keep the black at the edge of his vision from taking over.

"Don't touch them." A harsh voice shot out from the crowd.

"Yeah, step away." A second voice sounded, shaky. Ichigo dared to look up. He saw more people moving out from where they'd taken cover.

"Back away from them." A woman shouted.

More people moved toward them, more people were shouting.

The gun pulled away from them, Takeo started aiming wildly at the crowd.

"STOP MOVING!"

"Someone get the gun!"

"Stop him!"

Takeo became more frantic, Ichigo got a hold of Grimmjow, ready to run, but the man before them was wild, unpredictable.

"STAY BACK!"

"Ichigo..." Grimmjow gasped, "Don't let him..."

"Don't let him what, Grimmjow?"

But he saw the mania, saw the gun twitch and turn inward, pointing to his own head. "You bastards. This is on all of you!" Grimmjow lurched, Ichigo was barely clinging to consciousness and easily fell sideways form the way Grimmjow used him to launch himself at the Hollow Prince.

Grimmjow hand closed over the barrel, pushing it away from his temple. "Don't. You. Dare." The two stood in a silent struggle for the gun. Then four shots sounded in quick succession, striking the wall harmlessly, and Grimmjow stepped back. The only sound was the rapid clicking of the trigger again and again as a desperate child tried to escape his punishment. Grimmjow watched him with cold eyes. "You're father has already killed enough people. And you don't deserve the easy way out."

The gun clanked on the cafeteria tile. A couple people from the crowd moved in to grab him but he wasn't fighting any more.

"There." Grimmjow said, sinking back to the floor next to Ichigo. "Now, it's over."

* * *

"Where are they? Where are they!" Isshin ducked under line after line of yellow tape, over shattered glass, but the cafeteria was empty save the crime scene investigators. Someone grabbed his arm and pulled him away but he found himself directed toward a private room and there he found Ichigo sitting on a bed, head bent forward and a doctor standing over him with a light in hand trying to see the damage.

"Son, SON!" Isshin didn't really care that he half shoved the other doctor away to get his son in his arms.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah dad, I am."

"No, you're not, look you bleeding,"

"Dad," Ichigo had to take hold of his father by the shoulders, "it's okay." Isshin stared into his brown eyes, so strong and unwavering, and he knew his son would indeed, be okay.

"Grimmjow?"  
Brown eyes shifted to the closed bathroom door. He heard a retch.

"Go, I'm okay."  
"You sure?"

"I'm sure, Dad."

Isshin slowly withdrew from Ichigo and apologized to the other doctor, and put his hand on the door knob. He pulled the door open slowly.

"Grimmjow, it's me."

The figure on the floor didn't move except to heave again into the porcelain bowl, his hands tight around the edge and his body slumped over it, head half resting on his arm. He spit and slid back a bit to gasp in cleaner air, his face was flushed and his eyes wet with hot tears from puking so much. Isshin could see he was just throwing up bile now.

"Grimmjow?"

"Ish- shin-" Speaking only proved to bring more heaves, but nothing was coming up anymore despite the convulsions of his body.

"It's okay," Isshin tried to sooth, "it'll pass."

Grimmjow just nodded to acknowledge he'd heard him and Isshin made to stand but as if knowing, the door opened and a nurse came in with a bottle of water.

"Did you give him anything?"

"We haven't been able too, he was vomiting when we reached him."

Isshin nodded and cracked the bottle, helping Grimmjow tip the water in small doses.

"Does he have any injuries?" When she gave him a blank look he turned to the patient himself. "Grimmjow, are you hurt anywhere?"

Grimmjow shook his head. He looked up into concerned eyes and reached a shaking hand out to grip Isshin's arm. He gave it a squeeze. He was going to be alright. They had once again survived, as hard as it was for Isshin to believe.

"Okay." he whispered back in understanding.

"Isshin." The door pushed open again, the doctor told him that Ichigo had a mild concussion but after the police took their statements the boys could go home with him. He stepped out again and was replaced by Ichigo.

"Son, you should stay in bed." But Ichigo came over to them and reached a hand out to Grimmjow. Isshin watched him wipe his hand off on his shirt and accepting the help up. He scanned Ichigo over head to foot before throwing his arms around him.

"I thought he was going to shoot you." he croaked out past his burn throat.

"I thought he did shoot you." Ichigo whispered back still feeling that jarring moment when the gun when off and Grimmjow dropped. He was the one who'd taken a blow to the head, but Grimmjow looked like he was in much worse shape after his panic attack. But Ichigo stepped back and looked him square in the eyes.

"Why did you stop him? What did you mean by what you said?"

Isshin looked between them, he was still burning for answers.

"Ichigo I-" he stopped, trying to find his words, "I couldn't watch it happen." Ichigo watched his gaze fall to the floor and knew old habits were returning, so he pulled Grimmjow back against him in a desperate attempt to keep him from shutting himself off. Isshin seemed to notice and left for a moment to get the medications they couldn't give him earlier. He was actually rather calm, but underneath the surface both Ichigo and Isshin knew Grimmjow's trauma wouldn't let his mind stop endlessly reliving the terror for days.

"I didn't want to see that either, Grimmjow. He was, disturbed, wasn't he? Dad said he didn't think he was quite right."

"How could he be? He was Aizen's son."

"Here we go." Isshin was back with a small plastic cup and glass of water. They both saw Grimmjow's shoulders slump in the disappointment of having to rely on drugs, but he swallowed them and the three went out. They left the hospital right away, to let Grimmjow fall asleep in his own bed, and the police followed them home to interview Ichigo. Isshin listened to what happened in horror, but also in pride, that this town had stood up for his family.

"We'll return for Mr. Jaggerjaques' statement tomorrow and let you know what will happen from there."

"What will happen?" Isshin asked.

"He pulled a gun in a room full of people with the intent to kill. There were at least two dozen witnesses. He won't receive bail. Sir, to be frank, I don't think you'll ever have to worry about him again."

"Thank you, officer."

* * *

"Ichigo, hurry up, I don't want to be late on our first day!" The shrill voice on the other side of the door made everyone in the kitchen jump. The girls were still making breakfast but Ichigo was racing around trying to pack everything he thought he might need in his book bag.

When the furious knocking began, Grimmjow quickly moved to open the door.

"Ichigo I'm going to—oh..." She stopped short, hand still raised and stared up at Grimmjow. "Grimmjow your face..."

"Handsome as ever right?" He smirked, letting her in. She and Byakuya had gone away for a few weeks and she had not seen him since his plastic surgery. You could still tell that he'd had work done, but it was a hundred times better than what it had been.

"Yes." She finally breathed out, a smile spreading over her face.

"Hey, don't let Renji hear that." Ichigo said pushing past, Grimmjow. "Okay let's go."

"Don't screw up." Grimmjow called after him. Ichigo had half a mind to throw him the finger but the girls and his dad might see so he just waved and got into the car. Renji gave a wave to him out the window and they drove off to the university. It was Renji's second year so he would show them around. Orihime and Chad would be there too. Grimmjow couldn't help feel left behind, but then he looked at the clock and realized he too was going to be late.

He grabbed toast from Yuzu and left out the door.

"You're late." Uryu glared at him when he got to his house trying to hide the fact he was out of breath.

"Come on, it's seven thirty in the morning, why do we have to start so early?"

"Hey, when you accepted my help, you accepted my terms."

"Fine." Grimmjow entered, Uryu lead them on his crutches down the hall to a study room. He had made progress but he still had a long way to go and even after months of training he couldn't walk without support for very long. So he had decided to postpone university and try to concentrate on healing. But in the mean time, he was willing to tutor Grimmjow to help him get his High school equivalent.

Grimmjow knew it was unfinished business for the teen. He had started his little project in the hospital, getting Grimmjow to read and follow a routine. Now he needed to see it through, and like they had promised a long time ago to walk out of the hospital together, they were now operating on the unspoken promise that they would enter university together.

They called it a day just before dinner time. Grimmjow was spent, his mind exhausted from Uryu's lessons, but if this was a taste of what was to come, he guessed he would be well prepared for university by the end of it. But on his way home he found himself wandering not to the Kurosaki house hold, but to that steep hill and those rows of grey stone. He walked the rows without counting, without looking at names or numbers, he would never forget which ones held the names he sought.

To her, he said what he always did. He loved her, he wished she was here, he hoped she was proud. To him, words were less forthcoming. His hands wandered into his pockets, he stood just staring at his father's name.

"I put an end to it." He finally said, the sun closing in on the horizon, bathing the grave in a rose light. "Everything you started. It's all put to rights. So if there is, you know, something after, then I hope it brings you peace."

He nodded to himself. "It's over now, so we can both move on." He turned, but his feet weren't moving, the last heat of a September sun on his back. He bowed his head.

"He's a better man than you ever were." His voice dropped to just above a whisper when he turned back to face his father. "He always puts his family first, always. He has no addictions, vices. He never gets drunk. He always knows what to say, how to help. And I love him. He's made me part of his family, and I love them too."

The last edge of the sun burned hot over distant hills, shadows began to overtake the engraved names all around him.

"But he isn't a replacement." the words came out hot, choking past tears he did not want to shed. "I just needed to say it." they came despite his efforts, rolling down his cheeks. "I just needed you to know that even after everything, you're still my dad. I still love you. I still want you to be there waiting for me when I go home. I still want to celebrate the holidays with you, and sit in those damn plastic chairs and have a cigarette. I want you to teach me how to drive and see me graduate. I want you to help me decide what I want to do with my life. And I want to ask you about mom. I want to hear you talk about her, tell me about her. I don't want to be the only one left in this world to hold onto our memories in that house before that night. I don't want that life to slip away with time."

Darkness consumed the last slice of the sun, and he stood in the darkest of dusk before the stars and moon would shed a little more light on the night.

"I won't let that happen." He finally breathed. "I know what I have to do."

He wasn't sure how long it took him to walk home. It was well past any dinner hour, his phone had vibrated in his pocket the whole way here, but he hadn't been able to stop. He tramped over the lawn and hauled the sign out of the earth before marching up the front steps. He fumbled for his ring of keys and found the one that unlocked his memories, his nightmares, and once the lock clicked he moved inside.

His eyes had adjusted to the low light on the way here. He stood in the kitchen, tracing a hand over the bare counter, his eyes fixed on the living room beyond. He moved to the closet, where he'd gotten the baseball bat that night Aizen's men had come for him. He opened it, now bare, and knelt down, running a hand over the interior of the door frame, feeling the words etched in there, knowing them without having to squint in the dark to read them.

_2 years 78 cm_

_ 3 years 83 cm_

_ 4 years 93 cm_

He continued tracing up the wall, feeling the long smooth gap between ages twelve and thirteen, when he'd had a huge growth spurt. He remembered having to wear old shoes of his dad's until he could get a new pair of sneakers. He laughed at the memory, remembered tripping in those old things on the stairs and chipping a tooth but taking an even bigger chip out of the hard wood that you could still see today.

He rose, fingers still idle on the marks on the wall, thinking of all the scars he'd put in this house- a failed science project had put a hole in the kitchen wall that had been covered up by the bread box. A yelling match at the table had seen four fork sized rakes through the wall paper. Spilled juice had forever stained the carpet in his bedroom, another spill of water had warped a floor board in the living room that had tripped his father up every day since.

He thought he had earned more scars on his body than he'd inflicted on the house, but the difference was he _wanted_ to remember the ones carved in wood.

"I'm sorry I didn't answer my phone." He spoke to the door frame when he heard the footsteps making their way through the dark entrance into the kitchen.

"You know I worry." Isshin answered.

"I know."

"I saw the sign on the lawn."

"I went to the cemetery."

"Did it make you change your mind?"

"Yeah."

Isshin moved carefully over to him, some moonlight streamed in now, and he saw what held Grimmjow's attention.

"He loved you deeply, and he was very proud of you."

"I...I want him back." And it came. It was the first sorrow he should have felt, all those months ago. It was the first pain he should have had to deal with. But it had been lost under the torment of nightmares, the trauma of torture, the shock of truth and past secrets. It was the one most devastating feeling in the core of his being but it had been buried by everything else that had happened after that night. He was a son who'd lost his father. And he hadn't mourned the end of that life, not properly, not without images of what he looked like on that night tied to that chair. But now, in the shadow of childhood memories, he finally wept wholly and solely the loss of his father.

Isshin quietly held him, feeling a body so much stronger than when he'd held him before- in the hospital, the clinic, in that bloody warehouse. And when the tears ended, he didn't look to the floor, didn't shy away from Isshin's gaze, he stood tall next to the evidence of just how much he had grown. He wiped up the last tears with a hand that had been burned; he stood firm on a leg that had been broken; was held straight by a back that had been scarred, and spoke with the voice that had defied evil incarnate when nobody else dared.

"You are my family, Isshin. But I want to keep my house. I don't know when, but some day I will make it my home again. I need to keep it, for them, but mostly for me. So the little things like this will help me remember him, remember us, before that night."

"I understand." Isshin said as they backed out of the closet and closed it up.

"Thanks."

"And frankly, a bit relieved."

"Relieved?" They stepped back out into the night and Grimmjow locked the door behind them.

"Yeah, I really wasn't looking forward to new neighbours."

Grimmjow shot him a look and smiled. Isshin put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him just before they stepped into his house. "No matter what you decide down the road, you will always have a home here, Grimmjow."

"I know." He spoke, half breathless, eyes still raw from his earlier breakdown shone in the now full light of the moon, threatening to overflow again. "I love you."

"I know." Isshin slid his arm around him and took him in a firm embrace, no tears this time. "I love you too."

They separated, Isshin held the door open for Grimmjow. He walked inside to a warm house, his dinner still sitting on the kitchen table, the girls and Ichigo waiting for him on the couch under the guise of watching t.v. There were smiles and chit chat about everyone's first day of school. There were jokes and stories and laughter. There were memories forged here, some good some bad, scarring linoleum, plaster, wood and tile. And there were more to be made, some good some bad- the difference was, they would make them together, good or bad, he wasn't alone.

He was home.

* * *

END

* * *

_**Well, I have to say thanks to all who read and reviewed this story. It was a dark inspiration that I feel turned into something more about hope and triumph of good. It was outside my usual area of writing and I am glad I took on the risk and challenge. I would love to hear feedback on the conclusion or the story as a whole. Thanks so much again.**_

_**Riza.**_

_**PS, **_

_**I am planning on publishing a canon-related Ichigo-Grimmjow story soon, similar to "Psychology of Grimmjow" so if you're interested, check back.**_


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